Recipe Book

My neighbor showed me this book and not much later I had it in my collection of recipe books. While there are only a few recipes  in The Illustrated Cook's Book of Ingredients it is filled with information. Including storing, preparing, and cooking a variety of foods. It's separated in to chapters based on types of Ingredients like vegetables, cheeses,  oils, and more.

Actual Expiration Dates

We've all been there, the date on the box passed days if not weeks ago. Sometimes even longer. The best way to food from going bad is to use it and store it properly but just in case here are a few:

EGGS: they're actually good for a long time after the expiration date. They can last about three weeks from when you purchase them. You can smell them and look at the egg yolk and white on a plate like described on What's Cooking America or you can put it into a glass of water and see how it behaves as seen to the right. If in doubt get rid of it; it's not worth someone getting sick.

SPICES: From Spices INC They last a long time but they will lose potency as time passes. Avoid them getting warm (above 70 F). Also avoid exposure to water so don't work right over steaming dishes and don't freeze and thaw herbs.
Whole spices, herbs and flowers~1-2 years
Seeds~2-3 years
Roots~3 years
Ground spices, herbs and flowers~ 1 year
Ground roots~ 2 years

Recipe: Carrot Fries

While these may seem really weird they are actually delicious. They taste almost like sweet potato fries too me and are a lot healthier. Make sure they get a coloring on them, when they are charred a   little they taste better. Enjoy!

1. Peel Carrots into thick slices
2. Toss slices in olive oil and salt. Just enough  to coat them.
3. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes
4. Cool and enjoy
   

Melting Chocolate

 Melting chocolate seemed like a lot of fun to me until I it started to burn and look funky. Here are somethings I learned that will hopefully help you with your melting adventures.
These tips are for double boiler methods not microwave. I use a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water and only have a little bit of the water touching the bowl where the chocolate is melting and I have found it to work well.



DARK CHOCOLATE: The easiest to melt by far.It will melt quick and not that easy to burn either, there isn't a lot added to the actual chocolate. If you are starting to run out feel free to throw more in.



MILK CHOCOLATE: A little trickier. I recommend reducing the heat once it melts and not turning it up again even if you add more chocolate. Be patient when waiting for more to melt again, burnt chocolate is a waste.


 WHITE CHOCOLATE: The most difficult. White chocolate technically isn't a chocolate because there is no chocolate solids as Bon Appétit put it. White chocolate will burn easily and  don't recommend adding more part way through. Melting too much and have extra is a better idea.




STRAWBERRIES: If you wash your strawberries just before dipping them pat them dry. The water gets into the chocolate and makes it look like it's burning. It isn't but it can be alarming when you  don't realize what happened. It took me a few times to realize just drying them would avoid the problem. If you forget you can continue and avoid the darkening spots ( it will effect coverage if you dip in to the watered chocolate) or just wait a little while. This is more evident in milk chocolate than the other two.

Have fun. A spot in the fridge is a great place to put a cookie sheet of goodies to cool.

Cooking Oils

So one thing that piqued my interest a while ago was oil. I know olive, vegetable, canola and other common ones like that but I wanted to know what else was out there and what I could use it for.

  
Here are a few links I found:
Whats Cooking America
Whole Foods Market
Also:
  

But what about substitutes? My grandma always swapped out the oil in a bake mix for applesauce, which works. Here are some healthier alternatives to oil:
Vegetable oil- for baking: 1-1 applesauce or fruit puree
Vegetable oil- for frying: 1-1 lard or vegetable shortening
On a vegan webpage I found:

• Apple sauce may be used in cakes, cookies, and other sweet baked goods to replace oil or margarine.
• Prune Puree may be used to replace the oil. To make it, puree in blender 6 ounces prunes, 1 cup water, and 2 tsp. vanilla.
• Mashed or pureed tofu can replace oil in other (non-sweet) baked goods.
• Flax meal can replace all or some of the oil in a recipe. The substitution ratio is three parts flax seed meal for every part oil or fat you are replacing. For example, for 15 mL (1 Tbsp.) of fat to be replaced, use 45 mL (3 Tbsp.) of flax seed meal. Baked goods with flax as a fat replacer tend to brown more quickly than regular recipes, so you may have to modify normal cooking times.

 Know any other good oils to use of good substitutions? I would love to know about them.