(Makes about 4 dozen small muffin-sized treats)

For Mother’s day this year we made a tasty little treat. Try it out, see what you think.

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“Preparing Asparagus“

 Preparing asparagus is a lot easier than you might expect.  Buying, cleaning and actually cooking asparagus are all parts of actually preparing asparagus.

 preparing asparagus

What is Asparagus? preparing asparagus

It’s important to understand what asparagus is before jumping into preparing asparagus.  Asparagus is essentially a flower or a fern (which is why they are stored in water in stores). It takes about 3 years to grow and be harvested, but is actually best when its harvested between 6-8 years.  Don’t get confused though, the asparagus that you buy at the store is not 3 years old.  The plant or the base it is harvested from is, but the asparagus crowns (we most often refer to them as the asparagus spears) are generally only a few weeks old.  The young thin spears are generally tender and ready to cook/eat, while the thicker tougher spears are older and require some more preparation. preparing asparagus

 preparing asparagus

Is Asparagus good for you? preparing asparagus

Nutritionally, asparagus contains only about 4 calories per spear and contains lots of nutrients like Vitamin C (like most vegetables), Fiber and Potassium. . . So yes, it is healthy for you.

 preparing asparagus

Buying Asparagus preparing asparagus

When buying asparagus, look for a bright green color, firm stems and most importantly nice tight heads that aren’t slimy or falling apart. preparing asparagus

How do you prepare Asparagus?

Preparing asparagus is fairly easy.  Simply cut the stems off (the stems are usually tough and “woody”) and discard them.  There are alot of differing opinions on how far up to cut asparagus.  Some people will say to bend the asparagus until it breaks and then cut it at that spot.  I personally have found that bending method tends to waste a fair amount of the spears.  So I suggest that when preparing asparagus if you cut just above the the bottom rubber band (if they are in a bunch) or cutting off about the bottom 25-33% that is ideal.

 preparing asparagus

Cooking Asparagus preparing asparagus

There are many ways to cook asparagus.  It can be steamed, roasted in the oven, sauteed in a stir-fry, tempura-dipped and deep fried, etc.  Probably the common way is to steam it.  Simply add a cup or two of salted water (for flavor) to a pot or a pan and add the asparagus (about one whole bunch-which will probably feed at lest 3 or 4 people).  Add a lid and turn the heat to high.  preparing asparagus

At this point I wait to see a fair amount of steam coming from under the lid and I then turn off the heat (usually takes 2 minutes or so).  If I’m going to use the asparagus for a salad or vegetable tray, I run the asparagus under cold water to “shock it” and stop it from cooking anymore.  If I’m going to serve it hot, I will take it out of the pan and put it on a serving tray and top it with some butter, salt and pepper. preparing asparagus

The challenge with cooking vegetables like asparagus this way is the vegetables loose minerals and flavor compounds into the water while they cook.  Then what do we do with the water that now has alot of those flavors and molecules leached into them?  Almost always it gets poured down the drain . . .preparing asparagus

Another way to cook the asparagus so that this doesn’t happen is to cook it in melted butter, olive oil or another kind of fat instead of water.  This way the flavor molecules and nutrients don’t leach out into the liquid, but instead stay intact in the asparagus. . . plus, it lets you skip a step of adding fat to it after it cooks. preparing asparaguspreparing asparagus

How do you serve it? preparing asparagus

Asparagus is great accompaniment on vegetable trays, wrapped in ham as an appetizer, served as a side with dishes like a classic eggs benedict or as a component of the classic “Oscar-type” dish.

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Does eating Asparagus really give your urine a smell? preparing asparagus

The short answer is yes.  The real answer is, it depends.  The following is taken from “Kitchen Chemistry” done by The Royal Society of Chemistry and Chef Heston  Blummenthal.  preparing asparagus

Between 30-50% of us notice this smell. “It seems probable that sulfur-containing amino acids such as methionine are broken down in the body to other sulfur-based compounds. These, like many sulfur-containing compounds, have an unpleasant smell. preparing asparagus

The reason that not everyone can smell ‘aspragus-pee’ is the subject of debate. Scientists remain divided on why people have different urinary responses to eating asparagus. One camp thinks only about half of the population have a gene enabling them to break down the sulfur-containing amino acids in asparagus into their smellier components. Others think that everyone digests asparagus the same way, but less than half of us have a gene that enables us to smell the specific compounds formed in the digestion of asparagus.” preparing asparagus

 preparing asparagus, preparing asparagus, preparing asparagus

Want to see more about preparing asparagus and lots more?  Click Here!

Check out the hard copy version of preparing asparagus here!

Get the First Timer’s Cookbook, DVD or both!  Right Here!

 preparing asparagus

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For the next few days we are offering The First Timer’s Cookbook on amazon (ebook) for free!  A $10 value!  Simply go to http://www.amazon.com/The-First-Timers-Cookbook-ebook/dp/B006VOOQC2 and get your copy today!

Don’t have a kindle?  Smartphone and tablet users can get the Kindle app for free and then download the The First Timer’s Cookbook for free too!  A great deal? . . . I think so.

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Making an orange garnish is one of the easiest ways to spice up your presentation, as well as a great way to use up an orange peel (which is usually just discarded).  An orange garnish not only allows you to use up those orange peels but also impress your guests with your orange garnish skills!

The first steps in making an orange garnish is to begin peeling the orange (or lemon or lime or tomato-anything round with a skin will work).  You will want to peel it as pictured, in a fairly thin strip.

After the peel is removed, you can begin to make your masterpiece orange garnish.

Now that you have your peel, just wrap it around and around until you have a tightly wrapped orange peel that will quickly become your orange garnish.

Now that your orange peel is tightly wrapped, you are just seconds away from having a beautiful orange garnish.

Once your orange garnish is tightly wrapped, all you have to do is set it down so that it sits flat (if it dosen’t look right or sit right, try just flipping it over) and step back and enjoy your creation.  As I mentioned before, you can use this little trick with tomatoes, lemons, limes, grapefruits or even apples and turnips.  Anything that is round with a skin.  Once you learn how to do it with an orange garnish, you can try things more challenging . . . Like a turnip, a radish or even a grape (good luck with that). 

The biggest step to making an orange garnish is practice.  So now that you know how to make an orange garnish, go do it. . . Over and over until its orange garnish perfect!

Want to see more than just an orange garnish?  Check out The First Timer’s Cookbook Here!

Check out videos and more about everything from an orange garnish to pan frying fish here!

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One of my favorite events of the year, the International Dutch Oven Society’s annual Cast Iron Chef’s Cook-off!

Our 3 secret ingredients this year consisted of Jelly Beans, Lemon Champagne Vinegar and Ancho Chili Paste.  At least one of these needed to be in each dish we made.

Our mystery protien this year was fresh-from-the-field Elk (that was shot just over the mountain from the competition, only a few months before).

Here is what I did . . . (Thanks to Robert Love for the great Pics!)

Dessert

Chocolate Cake with Ancho Chili Buttercream Frosting

Bread

Lemon Jelly Bean Cinnamon Rolls

Main Entree

Seared Elk with Ancho Chili Barley, Aparagus and Tomato

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Learning how to cook online is probably the cheapest and one of the most effective ways to learning how to cook online.  Learning how to cook online affords you the ability to learn at your own pace, in your own time and allows you the freedom of going at your pace, as fast or as slow as you need!

Learning how to cook online-what are the options?

Chances are that you may have wanted to learn how to cook online for a while now.  You may have even looked into learning how to cook online before and found what most people find when they start looking into learning how to cook online. . . Nothing. . . Or at least not a lot. learning how to cook online

The options for learning how to cook online have usually been limited to things like downloading an ebook with titles like “Learning how to cook online” or “Learn to cook at home!”

Other options to learning how to cook online included a web page or two titled “learning how to cook online” with links to other web pages with recipes and a few how-to guides. learning how to cook online

When you’re learning how to cook online, whether you’re learning how to cook online or at a kitchen store cooking class, or even in your own home or with a private instructor-you need someone to guide you!  You need to understand the principles of cooking and the techniques behind making your favorite dishes.  That what this course in learning how to cook online is designed to do, give you the techniques and to help you understand the principles behind cooking so that you can customize or create recipes to you and you’re family’s specific likes.

Finally a better option to learning how to cook online!

So let’s talk about getting started with learning how to cook online.  This program is designed to help you learn how to cook, not just what to cook.  You will learn the principles and techniques behind cooking (used daily by professional chefs and food service professionals when creating or customizing their dishes), because by learning how to cook online you will want to understand what you’re doing rather than just blindly following recipes. 

In this learning how to cook online program you will be guided through video tutorials with information that will help you understand how to cook, not just what to cook.   You will also be given basic recipes that will help you to practice what you learning how to cook online program has taught you.  These recipes have been tested and will act as a starting point for you to be able to adjust them as you see fit for your own personal taste.

Just think, with learning how to cook online in just 6 months you will be cooking like a pro!  Soups and sauces from scratch, learning to cut up a chicken, properly steaming vegetables, braising meat. . . It’s all here in the learning how to cook online program!

Get started Learning how to cook online! learning how to cook online

So what are you waiting for?  Sign up and get a free copy of the bestselling First Timer’s Cookbook!  That’s right, not only will you be learning how to cook online, but you will have downloads such as The First Timer’s Cookbook (a $12.95 value) and plenty of recipes and reports to help you not only learn what to cook but how!

Now we know you might be wondering how learning how to cook online works, so to make it worth you while you can get started for just $1.  That’s right get started learning to cook for just $1!

Click here to begin learning how to cook online!

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Learning to cook online is probably the cheapest and one of the most effective ways to learning how to cook.  Learning to cook online affords you the ability to learn at your own pace, in your own time and allows you the freedom of going at your pace, as fast or as slow as you need! Learning to cook online

Learning to cook online-what are the options?

Chances are that you may have wanted to learn how to cook for a while now.  You may have even looked into learning to cook online before and found what most people find when they start looking into learning to cook online. . . Nothing. . . Or at least not a lot. Learning to cook online

The options for learning to cook online have usually been limited to things like downloading an ebook with titles like “Learning to cook online” or “Learn to cook at home!”

Other options to learning to cook online included a web page or two titled “learning to cook online” with links to other web pages with recipes and a few how-to guides.

When you’re learning to cook, whether you’re learning to cook online or at a kitchen store cooking class, or even in your own home or with a private instructor-you need someone to guide you!  You need to understand the principles of cooking and the techniques behind making your favorite dishes.  That what this course in learning to cook online is designed to do, give you the techniques and to help you understand the principles behind cooking so that you can customize or create recipes to you and you’re family’s specific likes. Learning to cook online

Finally a better option to learning to cook online!

So let’s talk about getting started with learning to cook online.  This program is designed to help you learn how to cook, not just what to cook.  You will learn the principles and techniques behind cooking (used daily by professional chefs and food service professionals when creating or customizing their dishes), because by learning to cook online you will want to understand what you’re doing rather than just blindly following recipes. Learning to cook online

In this learning to cook online program you will be guided through video tutorials with information that will help you understand how to cook, not just what to cook.   You will also be given basic recipes that will help you to practice what you learning to cook online program has taught you.  These recipes have been tested and will act as a starting point for you to be able to adjust them as you see fit for your own personal taste. learning to cook online

Just think, with learning to cook online in just 6 months you will be cooking like a pro!  Soups and sauces from scratch, learning to cut up a chicken, properly steaming vegetables, braising meat. . . It’s all here in the learning to cook online program! Le

arning to cook online 

Get started Learning to cook online!

So what are you waiting for?  Click here to sign up and get a free copy of the bestselling The First Timer’s Cookbook!  That’s right, not only will you be learning to cook online, but you will have downloads such as The First Timer’s Cookbook (a $12.95 value) and plenty of recipes and reports to help you not only learn what to cook but how!

Now we know you might be wondering how learning how to cook online works, so to make it worth you while you can get started for just $1.  That’s right get started learning to cook for just $1! learning to cook online

Click here to begin learning to cook online!

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Eggs benedict is a classic breakfast dish that can come in many different versions.  The classic eggs benedict is basically a poached egg on top of a grilled english muffin and canadian bacon, then topped with a creamy hollandaise sauce.

Usually seen as a upscale breakfast items, mostly because of the hollandaise sauce.  Hollandaise sauce is seen as a challenging sauce to master, but if you know what you are doing, its really not.

Like I mentioned before, eggs benedict can be served in a lot of different ways.  As long as you keep in mind the basics of eggs benedict:

• Bread
• Major component-generally what the dish is named after, usually either a protien (canadian bacon, bacon, salmon, etc.) or vegetable (tomato, avocado, etc.) 
• Poached Egg
• Hollandaise Sauce

When making eggs benedict, just by understanding what the major components are you can adjust your the dish to what ever you want.  Here are a few examples of some different variations.

The Classic Eggs Benedict – English Muffin, Canadian Bacon, Poached Egg and Hollandaise served with Asparagus

Eggs Benedict with Avocado and Spinach on Garlic Bread

Eggs Benedict with Tomato, Topped with Hollandaise and Asparagus

When making eggs benedict, the sky is the limit, whatever combinations you can imagine, you can do.  So try making a few different variations and create your own eggs benedict signature creation.  For me, my favorite is:

Eggs Benedict-New Mexico version - A fresh tortilla for the bread, some shredded pork tossed in red chile on top of the tortilla with the poached egg on top of the meat.  Then, to finish it off I add some fresh roasted green chili to the hollandaise sauce and smother the whole thing in the “Green Chili Hollandaise”

Try another eggs benedict recipe here.

Want some sweetness to your eggs benedict?

Want to see more? Get the First Timer’s Cookbook Here!  

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