Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!

1 Hour Irish Soda Bread!

15-25 Minute Prep
35-45 Minute Bake

Ingredients:
4 to 4 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 Tbsp butter
1 cup raisins
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 3/4 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Whisk together 4 cups of flour, the sugar, salt, and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Mix the butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.

3. Stir in raisins.

4. Add beaten egg and buttermilk and mix in with a wooden spoon until dough is too stiff to stir.

5. Dust hands with a little flour, then GENTLY knead dough in the bowl just long enough to form a rough ball.

6. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a round loaf.

7. The dough will be a little sticky. As needed add a bit of flour so that you can handle the dough. DO NOT: over-knead because then it will become tough.

8. Again, transfer the dough. This time it will be to a large, lightly greased baking sheet. Using a knife, cut/score the top of dough about an inch and a half deep in an “X” shape. Bake until bread is golden brown, about 35-45 minutes.

Commemorating Black History Month

The Story Behind Soul Food…

I personally love “Soul Food.” It was the first type of cuisine I learned how to prepare. A great deal of what I learned came from my grandmother who was a share cropper in Durham NC. Being a sharecropper, not only did grandma know how to grow and raise southern food and animals, but she knew how to prepare it. Soul Food originated down south USA during times of slavery. The food derived from scraps which the masters would allow the slaves to keep for their families. Have you ever heard of the saying… “When life gives you lemons…make lemonade.” Well this saying was put into practice by the enslaved African peoples of the United States. Wonderful comfort meals such as chicken and dumplings began to develop. The scrap vegetables were favored and cooked down by using a piece of meat most likely from the pig, and many things that were viewed upon as taboo were made into food.
Now of days, Soul Food is no longer only made with scraps. It consists of an array of different hearty fresh foods and prime meats such as Baked Mac and Cheese, Sweet Potatoes, Collard Greens, Fried or Baked Chicken, Smothered Pork Chops, Ham, Corn Bread and much more! Most Soul Food involves three basic seasonings which are sugar, salt, and pepper (however other seasonings can be used). Other flavorings aside from seasonings are usually induced by meat. Two primary meats used in Soul Food are Chicken and Pork. When seafood is requested, a fried fish is usually preferred. Porgies, Whiting, and Catfish are the most popular types of fish used. Soul Food is prominent in the houses of most African Americans however; Soul Food is not restricted only to those of African descent. It has crossed color barriers by becoming popular amongst all peoples in America. Perhaps the most well known Soul Food restaurant which is frequented by tourists from all over is “Silvia’s” located in Manhattan NYC. “Silvia’s” has been around for years. Silvia herself is a wonderful person whom is a family friend of my Grandfathers. Furthermore, when you travel down south USA, you will not find a difference in the way the southerners eat based off of race, instead, Soul Food is a shared culture in the south. It is usually referred to as “Southern Cuisine” and found on the tables of most southerners in spite of their heritage. Due to my extensive Soul Food background, recipes such as the “Country Fried Fish” and the “String Beans” are contained in my book IS THERE A CHEF IN THE HOUSE. Also for a free Soul Food “Sweet Potato” recipe of mine http://www.athomecookinginstitute.com/free-recipe.html.

"10 Commandments for a Super Moist Turkey"

"10 Commandments for a Super Moist Turkey"


Thanksgiving is coming!


You are well on your way to never cooking a dry turkey again.

"10 Commandments for a Super Moist Turkey" provides you with great tips to creating a mouth watering succulent turkey. Impress all of your family and friends this holiday season!

Go To: www.athomecookinginstitute.com/turkey.html

Wet Salad!

What is "Wet Salad"?

What I call "wet salad" is when you make a salad using cabbage (sliced, diced, or shredded) in place of regular lettuce. You then saturate your salad with your choice of dressing (I usually use vinegar). Wet salad has a great crispy texture. It could stand for hours even days without becoming soggy like a salad made with regular dressing would.

For an ideal wet salad, after you mix all of the ingredients together, let it stand for about 2 hours. This will ensure the flavors of the dressing are being worked in to the cabbage and the other veggies. Below is a wet salad that I love to make.

Mix together the following:

Shredded Green Cabbage
Sliced Cucumbers
Sliced Carrots
Sliced Green Peppers
Sliced Vidalia (red) Onions
Fresh minced Garlic
Fresh Cracked Pepper
Salt
Balsamic or White Vinegar

I was inspired to create the wet salad above when I ate something similar to it at a really great restaurant in NJ called “Harold’s of NYC”. This salad makes for a huge flavor blast! It is also very healthy. Use the wet salad as a side dish to sandwiches such as subs/hoagies or even hamburgers.

If you notice I did not tell you how much to use of each ingredient above. I have done this on purpose so you can control your own taste pallet. In other words, use as much or as little of everything as you would like. For the olive lovers out there, feel free to throw a few olives in.

Enjoy!
Very Truly Yours,
Britnee Timberlake

P.S. Play around with wet salad, replace the lettuce in some of your ordinary favorite salads with cabbage.

Let’s Talk about Rice Baby!

Rice seems to be one of the main things people categorize as being “hard to cook”. Most women I talk to ask me about cooking rice above all other foods. Here is what I have learned over the years about rice:

Rice seems to sometimes have a mind of its own. When you think you are cooking it right, all of a sudden the rice proves you wrong by turning to mush. AHHHHH I hate this. Truth be told, in a way, rice does have a mind of its own. It is one of those foods which do not require much maintenance. Rice is very independent. What I mean by all of these statements which greatly involve my own personification of rice is, just leave it alone and let the rice cook itself.

All you have to do is…

1. BOIL the correct measured amount of water (instructions can be found on the bag)

2. Add the correct measured amount of rice to the BOILING water (instructions can be found on the bag)

3. Pour the rice while stirring it into the BOILING water.

4. Quickly Stir in salt and Butter (step 3 and 4 should only take about 20 seconds)

5. Turn the boiling water DOWN to the lowest burner possible before turning the burner off

6. Put the lid on the pot

7. Let the rice simmer/steam cook itself, in other words leave it alone :)

• No you do not have to keep taking the lid off the pot to check the rice.
This lets the steam out of the pot which will have a negative effect on the cooking process.

• No you do not have to keep stirring the rice.
When you keep stirring the rice your rice will grow stickier by the minute. This will eventually turn the rice into mush! However if you want the effect of a semi sticky rice you can stir the rice a little bit perhaps twice while it is cooking.

• No you do not have to turn the burner to high at any point the rice is in the pot.
This will not result in the rice cooking fast. Instead, it will result in the rice burning in the bottom of the pot... then you will have the smoke alarm going off and the entire house stinking. :) The only time your burner should be up high is when you are trying to bring the water to a boil before you add the rice.

This should help you conquer that “hard to cook” rice.

Very Truly Yours,

Britnee Timberlake

Sandwiches

I love fantastic sandwiches. I am kind of like Bill Cosby in how he was always making the biggest and best sandwiches on "The Cosbys" TV show. By the way, ladies… it is foot ball season… which means it is sandwich season for our men (and for some of us who are football fans too ;). I have a 10 tips for you to help take your ordinary sandwich making to the extraordinary level:

Tip 1: Use salad dressings as sandwich spreads.

Tip 2: Pesto is king!(Pesto is often viewed as a fancy spread but in fact there is really nothing fancy [other than its flavor]to it).

Tip 3: Sautee and season some tomatoes to replace the regular raw ones.

Tip 4: Use cranberry Sauce on your turkey sandwiches.

Tip 5: Buy your sandwich bread from a fresh dough bakery.

Tip 6: Everyone loves a little cole slaw on their sandwich (it makes for great texture and flavor) Add a little spicy mustard to it and you are in the money!

Tip 7: Double up on your meats (pair turkey with bacon while salami is great with ham and pepperoni).

Tip 8: Use your left over meat from last night’s dinner to make great sandwiches.

Tip 9: Combine Tip 2 and 4 in the same sandwich and it is great! If you are a vegetarian and want to spice up a cheese sandwich this is how to do it!

Tip 10: Use thinly sliced deli meat instead of thick (this will make the meat less tough) but please do pile the meat high.

Be creative!
Be confident!
Have fun!
You are great!

Very Truly Yours,
Britnee Timberlake

Cooking Games

Cooking Games TARGET="_blank">www.breakfreefromcookbookbondage.blogspot.com"

Click on "cooking games" there are so many cooking games online here for little boys and girls to play with. I see a new generation of top chefs realizing their passions :)