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Therapeutic Effects of Cooking


10 years ago 0 11214 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Cooking can be so theraputic but it can also be stressful. Anyone who has had a dinner party knows this
 
When have you found cooking theaputic? What was different about these times compared to the stressful cooking times?
 
 
 
 
Ashley, Health Educator
10 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hugs, there is so much life to live, but when it is good it doesn't take much. Little things can become big things but in a positive way rather than the way they used to be. You can't fix it all but you can enjoy that which you do fix.

Davit.

PS I'm getting lots of flowers now.
10 years ago 0 4027 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Davit,
I don't feel rattled but inspired by this.  I do catch myself wanting to feel self-critical wondering where I was in the past, but things weren't easy, and I suppose we all do our best.
 
There's so much life to live isn't there
10 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hey you guys, I'm going to rattle you.

You know when you buy out of the store you get what they have. 
Here is some useless information.
Onions come in three types depending what you are going to do with them. Red for salad, yellow for cooking and white for onion rings. Potatoes are the same. High sugar potatoes like Kennebec for fries, Red for boiling and not mashing, Pintoes for mashing. Russets The most common store potato is a dry potato for baking.
Why is the most common potato a baker if most people boil? Simply that they produce well and store well and you don't count. Pinto's that make the fluffiest mashed are hard to find, the skin is red on one end and yellow on the other. Red potatoes used to all be named after indians, that has changed but didn't make them any more available.
Poaching an egg is cooking it in hot not quite boiling water. Vinegar helps hold it together. but you know you can poach it in a ramekin in the water so it doesn't even touch the water. Oil the ramekin lightly first.
Fried eggs don't stick if you use butter rather than oil. Taste better too. Really fresh egg whites won't whip. Raw eggs won't spin on a table, hard boiled will. Scrambled eggs are better with a bit of milk. Scrambled can be done in a microwave. So can brownies. 
Meat cooked in a micro is never cooked at higher than 6.
Hugs you don't need a lid with poached eggs.
About meat thermometers. The meat temp will come up even more when it is resting. Stop cooking just before you hit the temp you want. A glass probe with a metal tip is easier to clean than a dial type. Colour is an adequate indicator of temp.
No pink in lamb, chicken, or pork. Beef is your choice but I treat it the same.

Flour believe it or not comes in different moistures so the amount of water it will absorb differs from bag to bag. There fore recipes are unreliable. Eggs mess you up in a recipe because they come in different sizes. 
Imperial gallon is 160 ounces, American is 128. Little things but interesting.

Davit
10 years ago 0 4027 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi Kt,
I think those wrapped eggs are the ones.  It's easier in a frying pan,and healthier without the oil.  Nutritious cooking has helped me tweak my diet so I lost 30 pounds in 40 months.  The missing ingredient for many, I think, is lowering your stress as well.  But taking control of cooking means so much to me!
 
It's just one of those things I wish I was present to..so many things.  Better to be where I am, to the best of my ability though.  Today I'm going to cook some stracciatella, which a beaten egg in pasta, with a salad.  Tonight I can repeat a positive experience I had yesterday of cooking burgers, or buy some poultry, since I'm out of protein
 
Planning gives me a great sense of control over my life now, since I know I'm cooking healthier, and the patterns create a routine I manage with novelty and sensory stimulation through colour and smell and the rest that goes into presentation.  This is quite a change from my past when I could be bolting food at work or just not eating well.  As for wheher I can be like the lithe figure of my yoga instructor on Friday, that is another challenge
10 years ago 0 177 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hey Hugs,

Everything I know about cooking I learnt from my mother and Masterchef. Haha.

Do you honestly need a meat thermometer? I've never used one in my life, and I am super afraid of food poisoning! My meat has to be well done, so I cut some up and have a look at the colour inside to make sure there's no pink. A couple of nights ago I had to cook dinner, and we had these new type of potatoes that apparently need longer to cook. So my undercooked potato went lumpy when I mashed it. Also, there were a few times I had trouble cooking rice! Something so simple, but I realised I was rinsing the rice too much, and once I added too much water to start with. The rice we buy is naturally gluggier, so in the end I was just overthinking it.

Cooking really is tiring, and I'm always starving when it's ready, so I guess that's a good thing! Aren't poached eggs the ones you tie up in cling wrap and float in the boiling water? Or am I thinking of something else? Can't say I've ever poached an egg myself so you're brave in that aspect. I've heard they're pretty tricky.
Can you leave the lid off?

Kaitie.
10 years ago 0 4027 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Cooking is something I'm struggling with daily, and envy all the women who grow up passing on the legacies of their moms.  Maybe I just wasn't listening to my mother?  I do remember baking cakes, from only from those mix boxes.
 
I thought I'd try to cook some mini-burgers today, since I didn't shop for any poultry or meat.  For some reason, I thought I could follow a recipe for "smashed potatoes", but didn't boil the potatoes enough, so I had to do boil them again.  Normally I'd be almost afraid to accept that I made a mistake, but there are many way to get around these things.  The meat was fine, but I worried since I'm using a candy thermometer, and it seems to have water in the chamber of the dial.  Perfectionism and procrastination kill me, but it's so important to just have a good thermometer for safety's sake.
 
Cooking really rattles me, but I'm getting by.  I took a tip about poaching eggs, and used a non-stick pan, helping with clean-up.  Even celebrity chefs suggest sauce pots, but the cleanup is difficult compared to a pan.  I just can't watch the water with an opaque lid, since it overcooks and soils the burning elements.  The obvious solution is to buy a clear lid, but there are so many competing issues in homemaking.  The symbol for my distress is that I don't tie my shoelaces anymore, but maybe I should as a reminder of the need for sanity?
 

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