Watcher Recipes Lasagna Pasta

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb bowtie pasta
• 1 tablespoon cooking spray
• 1 lb ground turkey or lean ground beef
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce (or 3 cups homemade)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 heaping teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup low fat sour cream

Cooking Tips : 

Preparing A Family Inspired Holiday Dinner

Do you enjoy all types of foods? Are you someone that loves to eat sweet things? Do you enjoy eating foods from other countries? Have you ever desired to cook these delicious dishes in the comfort of your own kitchen? Get out of dreamland and get into the kitchen! Take some advice here to make those nutritious and tasty dishes.

To prevent the crust of your filled pies from getting soggy, coat the dough with egg white first and then bake it for about five minutes to allow it to set. You should then fill and bake as you normally would. This will stop your crust from absorbing too much of the filling during baking and becoming soft and wet.

Remember, the smaller the item, the higher the baking temperature. Small cookies will bake on a higher temp than a full cake would. Make sure to double check your recipe to find out the exact temperature it needs to be. You don't want to prepare a perfect item only to have it burn or be under cooked.

When you are making stock, make a lot of it. Then save it in a plastic zip bag, date it and freeze it. That way you can pull it when you would like to make a soup. You can use it to boil some veggies in. Having some in the freezer will make preparing healthy meals very much easier.

Put salt on your cutting board. It can be difficult to cut herbs on your cutting board. They tend to go all over the place. To keep this from happening, just sprinkle a little salt on your cutting board before you begin. This will work to keep them from slipping around.

Add salt and horseradish to your foods if you want to instill more flavor and add spice to each of your meals during the day. These ingredients are found everywhere and are very inexpensive, allowing you to maximize your level of taste with very minimal expenses. You can Improve the flavor of many foods with these ingredients.

If you've forgotten to soak your beans over night, quick soak them instead. Just put the beans in a very large pot and cover with water. Bring this to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for about two hours. This method is just as effective as an over night soak and can save you time.

Let roasts rest before carving to allow the juices time to retract from the surface of the meat. Slicing beef, pork, poultry or lamb immediately after roasting lets most of the juice run out of the meat which makes it drier and less flavorful. Giving the meat time to rest prevents the loss of the juices.

Try putting some cauliflower in with your mashed potatoes to cut some calories and fat. Since cauliflower is bland, it will mix right in with the potatoes along with the other ingredients. Cauliflower is also the same texture and color of potatoes when mashed so it's a great way to add more veggies, while lowering calories from classic mashed potatoes.

These will work as a sponge and soak up the water. Get a wet cloth instead, and wipe off each mushroom by hand.

As your cooking prowess grows, you will learn to appreciate the versatility of stocks and broths. Rather than buying these useful ingredients at the store or wasting your time cooking them in small batches, prepare stocks in large quantities. You can store surplus stock in plastic bags in your freezer, ready for quick use in future recipes.

You should separate your meat into usable portions before you freeze it. You can separate your meat and store the portions in sandwich bags. You can then place the sandwich bags inside of freezer bags. This will give you that ability to have your meats perfectly portioned and to be able to use the freezer bags over and over again.

If you are making mashed potatoes, return them to the pot after you have drained them cover the pot tightly and then let it steam for about 5 minutes. By doing this, the potatoes are able to dry out, which will make them mash into the perfect texture. It will also soak up butter and and cream easier.

Next time you make a dressing at home, swap half of the amount of mayo with an equal portion of Greek-style yogurt. This increases not only the richness of the dressing, but it gives it the creamy and smooth texture that we all love to see on our salads and other dishes.

If you are a big fan of having baked potatoes with your meal but do not like the long cooking time, you should soak them in salt water for twenty minutes before you bake them. They will take only about half of the usual time to bake after being soaked.

If you have left over wine in a bottle from dinner or drinks with friends, you can pour out the remaining wine in an ice tray and put it in the freezer. When you are making a sauce that has wine in the recipe you can drop in a couple of cubes.

After you cook a meal, immediately wash all dishes used during preparation. If you have a double bowl sink, fill one side with hot, soapy water and the other side with clear water for rinsing. It's easy to wash bowls and utensils right after you use them, and they'll be all set for the next ingredient that needs mixing.

By applying the tips you've learned above, you will be one step closer to preparing healthy, great-tasting meals that you and your family will love. Don't stick to the same old, taste test a variety of sauces and spices in your dishes. You may find a new food that you love! Summon forth the chef inside you by getting into the kitchen and letting your taste buds (with a little help from the preceding tips) take charge!

Better Food, Faster, Cheaper: Quick Ways To Improve Your Cooking

Cooking is something that you can never really master; there's always more to learn. Even the most experienced cooks are always looking for new things to try out. New cooks also need to learn the little tips that make cooking easier. You should read all the information provided in this article so you are able to learn more things about cooking.

Preparation is a very important part of cooking. You want to make sure you have every item you might need. You also want to make sure you have all the supplies you might need. You don't want to be in the middle of a dish and find out you are missing something important.

Since you are going to be using a lot of sharp knives in the kitchen to cook your meals, you will want to maintain precautions at all times. Instead of simply putting your knife in the drawer, make sure that you put a wine cork on the tip to protect against cuts and scrapes upon use.

Prepare dishes that you're an expert at when you're cooking for someone important in your life, such as a supervisor or a new partner. Do not attempt to whip up a new dish or use an ingredient you have never used before. This is a recipe for a stressful time in the kitchen.

It is possible to cook healthy without abandoning all of the rich, creamy dressings that can contribute so much flavor. One method is to use Greek-style yogurt as a replacement for mayonnaise. Half of the mayonnaise called for in the recipe should be replaced with the yogurt. This will give the same great taste while cutting down on the unhealthy effects of the mayo.

Always use airtight canisters or containers to store your dry goods, such as flour and sugar. Keeping your ingredients in airtight containers will stop them from spoiling or being infected with bugs. Almost every store has some form of them, and they are usually inexpensive.

Keep dental floss handy in the kitchen to cut or slice soft foods or ingredients. Unflavored dental floss works better than a knife when it comes to cutting soft cheeses, cake, pie or other soft foods or ingredients. Just unwind a length long enough to allow you to stretch it across the item to be cut and apply even, downward pressure for clean, neat cuts.

Freeze your excess ginger root. When you buy a ginger root for cooking, the chances are you won't use the whole thing in one recipe. Whatever you have left can be frozen. Not only will it keep for a long time, it's really easy to shave off a piece with a sharp knife, or grate it when it's frozen.

When you are going to make vegetable soup, add your onions, tomatoes, carrots, peppers and other vegetables to oil or butter before you add them to water. By doing this, you will find that the soup has a richer taste to it and the sugars are more normalized this way.

If you want to pan sear a nice tuna steak, you want to do it right! Make a baste for the tuna that is comprised of ginger, cilantro, soy sauce, pepper, and salt. Put oil on the pan and heat it, sear for one minute on each side. The middle of the fish should still be pink.

Cook small quantities of food at higher temperatures for a lesser amount of time. Bite-size cookies only need a few minutes in the oven if you put it a higher temperature because there is only a small surface area to cover and it will not take long to cook. This way you will be able to enjoy your meal in minutes.

When you are making homemade soups that contain meat, they tend to have a lot of fat that needs to be skimmed from the top. One quick solution to that problem is dropping in a couple of ice cubes. As the ice melts, the fat will stiffen around it and you will be able to remove it with ease.

While some foods need to be cooked at a high temperatures for short times, larger foods need to be cooked at lower temperatures for longer times. Doing so will allow the larger foods to slowly release their flavors as they cook and to be cooked evenly without under or over cooking.

Cutting onions does not have to be a crying matter. The keys to success with onions are easy to follow and minimize tears. Chill the onions first before cutting, use your sharpest knife for cutting and turn exposed cuts down on your board. As you cut, be efficient, quick and constantly turn the largest exposed cuts down against the board. Running your vent hood will help circulate air as you cut as well.

For a juicier turkey, soak it in brine for at least 12 hours before cooking. You can make a simple brine by combining ice water and sea salt. After seasoning the turkey, submerge it fully, cover, and leave to sit for 12-24 hours. Then, cook the turkey as usual. Not only does the turkey come out juicier, but it tends to have more flavor than un-brined turkeys.

Reduce the stress of cooking for a lot of people by preparing the ingredients the day before or earlier in the day. This helps prevent burning certain dishes because your attention is on preparing another dish. When you prepare the ingredients beforehand, you can focus all your attention on cooking the best meal possible.

Choose cuts of meat when roasting. Large rib roasts or tenderloin can be terribly expensive. When roasting meat, consider buying a cut of meat instead. It will save you a lot of money. Legs of lamb, turkey breasts, even pork shoulder are all capable of being just as delicious while being far more affordable.

Even seasoned cooks can use new tips to ease their cooking process. For the neophyte cook, every little bit of information helps cultivate those fledgling cooking skills. Use these tips to see if you can better your cooking skills and enjoy cooking in the kitchen more.