How Simple Steps to Preparing Easy Recipes at Home?

There are so many easy recipes online and so many cookbooks it's no wonder some people feel overwhelmed about cooking at home. Many decide to forgo cooking and opt to eat out instead.

If you're trying to save money or you have a family to feed, eating out can quickly blow a budget. In addition, it really doesn't save time by the time you travel to the restaurant, wait for a table, and then wait for service. Finding simple restaurant recipes will allow you to enjoy your favorite dishes without added costs.

Begin by preparing your kitchen and organizing your space. Then follow up with selecting favorite dishes found in a cooking guide for restaurant recipes.

• Clean out expired food from your cabinets and refrigerator.

Don't procrastinate. You'll be surprised how fast you can do this by dedicating 30 minutes a day until the task is complete. How easy is that? If you feel like dedicating an hour, then do so. The point is to bite off the task in small bites so you don't keep putting it off.

As you go through your food, write down the items you have on hand and organize them. This will allow you to use things you already have on hand for easy recipes. This will also help cut down on unnecessary grocery store purchases, which will save you money. In addition, organizing your cabinets will make it easy to find the items you need when cooking easy recipes for dinner.

Once you have completed this task, it's much simpler to maintain. To keep up with your list of available items, keep your cabinets and refrigerator clean and organized by setting aside fifteen minutes a week to do so.

• Write down some of you and your family's favorite restaurants, the restaurant dishes you love, and the foods you enjoy.

This will be a jumping off point for identifying where to begin in the search for easy recipes for dinner. Usually main dishes are the focus of favorite restaurant dishes, but that's okay because you can then list the side items you enjoy, such as green beans, potatoes, broccoli, etc.

From this point on, it's just a matter of mixing and matching your chosen main dish with side dishes to add flavor, nutrients, and color to your plate for easy cooking options.

• Look for recipes with few ingredients and few steps.

Don't overwhelm yourself. Start out with simple meals and add a couple sides of vegetables. Once you've prepared a few dishes and feel more comfortable cooking, you can really start to roll out restaurant style recipes and find a method that works for you.

Using these steps will provide you with great tasting food that takes only a little amount of time. As you prepare dinner, you can then start accumulating a list of favorites you can pull out when you are hungry for a certain type or style of food. Easy cooking is not an impossible task: with a little planning and practice, you can learn how to cook restaurant style dishes and certainly won't miss all the extra time and money you spent before.

How to Steam Fish Without Losing Its Natural Flavors

Steaming is a cooking technique that seals the food with moist heat and helps to retain their nutrients, flavor, and texture. When you steam fish perfectly, you will get a very tender, silky and slightly chewy texture that is so hale and hearty. Steaming does not require a lot of techniques and skills. You simply have to learn the secret tricks that would turn your plain steamed fish to Chinese-restaurant worthy.

Note that whole fish is better than fillets as the best flavor you get from steaming fish comes from the blood. Plus, the head, bones and skin add flavor. In fact, the fatty belly meat is the tastiest part of a fish. This is why almost every steamed or poached fish recipe calls for a whole fresh fish. Don't buy pre-gutted fish as the blood will drain out and you will have a tasteless piece of fish to eat. You can gut the fish yourself to reduce fluid loss. Frozen and thawed fresh whole fish can just be as good as fresh fish.

To begin the steaming process, make sure the water is rapidly boiling so it produces high heat and full steam before adding fish on the steamer basket. This ensures constant heat right through the cooking time. See to it your water is kept below the steaming rack and not in contact with food. Steam a small fish for 5-8 minutes, and 8-10 minutes for a bigger fish. Use your best judgment. For bigger fish, you might need to watch the level of water and add more as needed.

Do not over steam or overcook your fish. When you remove fish from the steamer it should still be a bit translucent at the spine. Just make sure the fish is fresh. You can add a glass of dry white wine or cider to the pot along with a few sprigs of fresh herbs, lemon and onion slices for a more robust steam flavor. If you want, you can also steam vegetables along with your fish by placing the veggies on top. To give your steamed fish that perfect sheen, brush a little amount of heated oil on the fish.

Steaming fish is a wonderful way to make a simple, fresh and healthy meal in one pot without taking too much time in the kitchen. It is amazing you only need to steam your fish perfectly to get the most flavorful steamed fish recipe. Match it with a green salad and you sure are getting all the healthiness you have been looking for.

Are You Making These Seven Mistakes When Cooking?

Do you want the same to happen to you? If not, keep reading. I'll share seven of the most important cooking mistakes people do all the time.

1. Frying with olive oil Many cooks may want to shoot me for saying this but I'll say it anyway. Don't fry with olive oil. Olive oil, just like most other vegetable oils is not resistant to the high temperature that it reaches when frying. This produces cancer-causing chemicals and trans fat.

Olive oil is excellent for salads and might be fine for cooking in a soup because the water temperature doesn't get as high. But it's very bad for frying.

If you want to fry at all, fry with butter or even lard.

2. Switching off the oven when the food is ready

In short, don't wait the food to be ready to switch off the oven. Even if you have one of these modern ovens that switch off and on pretty fast there is always remaining high heat in it for a couple of minutes. Switching it off when the food is ready leads to a couple of consequences:

a) You waste energy. Switch off a couple of minutes earlier and you will use the heat "for free".

b) Your food gets burnt.

3. Cooking with salt from the beginning

Of course no food is good without any salt in it. So in order not to forget it, you put the salt in the beginning, do you? Bad idea. Salt preserves most vegetables and especially the pulse and makes them hard to cook. That's why you have to boil the lentils and green peas for such long time and at the end they still nibble.

Put the salt after the pulse becomes soft, not before that.

4. Putting cold water when baking

Next time when baking potatoes in the oven pour in hot water instead of cold. You can heat the water in a water jug or a kettle which will happen much faster than heating it in the oven. Putting cold water results in awful loss of energy and time.

5. Putting the parsley too early

When cooking a soup or some pottage inexperienced cooks often put the parsley to cook when the food is nearly ready. Even this is too early.

Parsley is best consumed raw. And the point to add it to a dish is to have something fresh in it. It gets soft and cooked for minutes so don't put it to boil even for short time. Put the parsley when you take out the pot from the hot plate. Only then it will be good.

6. Cutting out fat

In our efforts to make healthy food we often get to extreme. I'm guilty too. I've made quite a few tasteless dishes by trying to cut out fat.

One of the most common mistakes is to cut out all fat. This is plain wrong and stupid. Don't do it. Here is what it leads to:

a) Tasteless food. Most cooked foods need at least a bit of fat to be tasty. Otherwise they become as tasteless as those in the dietetic restaurants.

b) Health problems. Yes, a lot of fat is bad for your health but so is too low fat. Don't go to extremes in cooking.

7. Overcooking vegetables

You know what Chinese cooks ask every time they taste Western food. "Why do these guys cook the vegetables for hours?!". You know the cooked vegetables in Chinese cuisine are very fresh and crunchy. Why don't you do the same? The vegetables in the soup or the stew don't have to be soft. They are much better if cooked less. Of course this is not valid for pulse, pulse has to be cooked well.

Tips and Benefits Italian Cooking

If you are aiming to reproduce the most authentic Italian cooking, you need to keep the following in mind. 

Freshness of the ingredients is the first and most important requirement of authentic Italian cooking. Use high quality fresh produce. You will not need to use many ingredients; so do not settle for less than the best for the few which you do have to buy. For ingredients like tomatoes, garlic, lettuce etc always use fresh products and do not put them in refrigerator.

Pasta is the base of most Italian menus. So you need to be familiar with it. There are more than 120 different varieties of pasta. You should know how and where to use it. The most important trick is to combine the pasta with the right sauce. For example, fine spaghetti has to be combined with light sauce. Thicker the sauce, thicker should be the pasta. Full flavor sauces need to be combined with penne or shell like pasta. If the texture of the sauce is chunky, use pasta with large diameters so that they can be flavored inside out. Heavier pasta like ziti are ideal for baking.

You have a choice between fresh and dried pasta. If you are really going for the most authentic Italian cooking, you should make your own pasta at home. Otherwise, you can buy from stores where both types are available. However, fresh pasta spoils easily and should be used at once. Frozen pasta can also be used.

If you do not find a particular ingredient, use the nearest substitute. Here are some common examples

Use chicken broth instead of beer

Margarine instead of salted butter

Combination of white sugar and molasses in place of brown sugar

Bouillon cube in place of broth

Unsweetened chocolate instead of cocoa

Cottage cheese in absence of cream cheese

Agar instead of gelatin

Macadamia nuts in place of Hazel nuts

Sour cream instead of mayonnaise

And many more

Finally, combine your Italian cooking with the correct beverage to round off the experience. Different types of coffees will be highly appreciated. Choose your wine correctly.

Some benefits 

If you want to enjoy the true flavors of Italian meals, you will have to take your time over it. Then only will you be able to appreciate its myriad tastes, textures and flavors. This style of eating is not only conducive to digestion, but also the total quantity eaten will be less if you take time to savor your food.

The emphasis on fresh ingredients in Italian cooking ensures that you eat food high in nutrient contents.

In a typical Italian menu, the emphasis is on vegetables. Italian cuisine will open your eyes to the vast number of ways in which veggies can be prepared. This will address the health issue of all members of the family, regardless what their age is.

How Using Techniques and Tips In Baking Potatoes?

One of the most enticing and evocative kitchen smells is that of the baked potato. Its association with childhood and most particularly with Bonfire Night keeps it forever as something of a treat. It remains too a comfort food but one that can be transformed daily with a different stuffing.

The jacket potato is The Great Standby and The Complete Meal. Treated simply with a pinch of salt and a generous dollop of butter its a pauper's supper fit for a king. With a liberal grating of mature Cheddar cheese is even better. After Christmas it really comes into its own. When served with pickles, a couple of crunchy baked potatoes make the prospect of unlimited cold turkey almost seem attractive.

In France they call the jacket potato pommes de terre au four - au four for short - or most often robe de chambre, a corruption of the original robe des champs (of the fields), meaning in their skins as they were grown. Many French chefs use the flesh of potatoes for making pommes purée because the steam-cooking makes for dry potato flesh. It also breaks down the flesh of their waxy potato varieties.

Perhaps because the French don't go in for the mealy variety of potato which is best suited to baking, their potatoes tend to be elaborately stuffed. These potatoes are usually called pommes de terre farcies. They are prepared by partial baking then the flesh is scooped out, mixed with the stuffing and returned for a final baking. The potato becomes a vehicle for very fanciful combinations and is a very different animal from the potato baked in the embers of the dying bonfire.

The secret of perfect baked potatoes is to put the potatoes into a very hot oven; from 400-425F/200-220C/gas mark 7) and to cook them for a minimum of 1 hour. The exact length of time depends on the size of the potato and the number of potatoes being cooked - they will take longer the more there are. Any variety of potato will taste good baked but mealy varieties are best. The starch expands under the intense heat and the potato becomes fluffy on the inside and with a nice crisp skin: the combination that makes the potato such a delight. Some people rub salt or oil into the washed skin to make it crispy but I rather like the nutty flavour that is most prevalent if the skin is merely washed. Also good is the burnt flesh edge of halved potatoes. If you favour a soft skin, wrap the potato in foil.

To allow the steam to escape cut the potato with a cross or prick it a few times with a fork. Potatoes can be partially cooked in advance and finished to order, this is especially useful to remember when providing baked potatoes for a party. In fact in his delightful Cooking In Ten Minutes Edouard de Pomiane recommends keeping a stock of baked potatoes for making instant meals.

How to Make Chocolate Fondue and Delicious Dipping Ideas?

More people are realizing how simple and delicious fondue is, and there are so many different ways to enjoy it. Not only are there many different recipes for the fondue itself, the list of items you can dip into it is endless.

Different Types of Fondue

Probably the most well known types of fondues are those made with chocolate and cheese. A lot of fondue fans also like to place small meat or fish chunks into a simmering broth, and frying in oil is another popular option. Dip style fondues are another alternative such as spinach or bean dip.

Types of Fondue Pots

There are electric fondue pots and those that are heated with Sterno or candles. Personal experience has shown that electric models produce more even and consistent heating. You have much more control over the heat level if you use a unit that has a temperature dial.

Once the fondue is melted and smooth, the heat can easily be turned down to low and kept warm without burning. With Sterno there is first making sure you have a sufficient quantity, there is the associated odor, and you don't have control over the temperature.

Generally when using a Sterno heated pot, you will have to heat the ingredients in a saucepan first on the stove and then transfer to the fondue pot, which sort of defeats the purpose of having a fondue pot in the first place.

You can purchase an electric fondue pot for less than $30, and you won't have to worry with purchasing Sterno or candles for heating. You'll also have a much better fondue experience.

How to Make Chocolate Fondue

Ingredients

1 pound of semi or bittersweet white or dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces (you can also use packaged chips)

1-1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream

2 Tablespoons of Grand Marnier or Torani Flavored Syrup of choice

Directions

Place chocolate in fondue pot.

Add cream and melt gradually on moderate heat, stirring often.

Don't use high heat as chocolate and cream will burn.

When creamy and smooth, add Grand Marnier or Torani Flavored Syrup.

Turn heat to low.

Dipping Ideas

There are many food items you can enjoy with the fondue you make, including vegetables, fruits, breads, desserts, meats, and seafood.

A few ideas for the chocolate fondue recipe above include fruits such as strawberries, cherries, grapes, bananas, oranges, peaches, blackberries, raspberries, apples, pears, honeydew melon, and pineapple. Graham crackers, pretzels, small chunks of angel food or pound cake, ladyfingers, biscotti, brownies, and doughnut holes are also good dipped in chocolate.

Air Powered Popcorn Makers and Their Benefits

Air Poppers

Air popcorn makers use hot air to pop popcorn in a hopper that heats up and circulates the hot air around the kernels. These units are relatively small and useful for counter top use and storage. The air popping mechanism is fairly clean and offers popping without much hands-on manipulation. The health benefits go up as there is no added oil or butter in the popping process. There are a few different sizes, but most are similar and familiar.

The most common type of air popper is the small standing counter top model with a removable cover and chute. These models usually feature butter warmers/melters built into the top of the chute cover. Beware that the butter will not melt if it is in cold, room temperature butter stands a better chance of melting. The easier method is to zap it in the microwave in a small microwave safe bowl or cup and then drizzle on the popped popcorn.

Being an oil free popper, the popcorn that comes out is light, airy and low-calorie. Some people find this popcorn too light and regard it as akin to Styrofoam. This may be true with the standard popcorn from the local market. Gourmet and specialty popcorn types are nicer in taste and texture despite the air popping process.

Visually this popcorn maker type is fun and kids will really light up when the first few kernels start to pop. Soon enough the chute is full and the popcorn comes tumbling out, much to the delight of the kids watching. No shaking, stirring or hands-on is required, just a big bowl under the chute to catch the booty! When the last kernel has popped and the machine is unplugged you should wait for an additional thirty seconds or so because there can be latent kernels that will pop. If the cover is off when one of these renegades blows it can really fly!

Overall the air popper can be a lot of fun for kids, a safe and easy to clean appliance for parents, and a convenient healthy snack maker for any individual. While there are some minor drawbacks to this type of popcorn maker, such as lighter popcorn and a somewhat ineffective butter tray, the merits of a quick, clean and easy to store popcorn maker are nice to have. It is worth a try to pop up a batch of fresh popcorn for your next home movie or sporting event on TV and enjoy a healthy and tasty snack.

How Cooking Fish?

Cooking fish is perhaps one of my favorite things to do. As a chef, with around 20 years of experience in the seafood restaurant business, I have had the luck to work with hundreds of varieties of, and many many different ways of preparing fish.

Every day I work is exciting for me, as I never know what I will find in the markets or the docks, and never know what I will do with what I find. Whether it is create a new dish with roasted halibut, or make a tequila, cilantro, lime, and pomegranate sauce for a grilled sockeye salmon, or even just a fish and chips with cod, every new day is an adventure.

It doesn't matter if you have very little experience in the kitchen, or have been cooking for many years. There is always a different way to cook seafood. The flavors you can combine are endless. The presentation is only limited by your imagination. Just a little knowledge will be all you need to get started making seafood masterpieces that will rival a chef's.

Grilling is a great way to cook meaty fishes, especially during the summer months. Grilling a hearty, yet light piece of salmon or swordfish on an outside grill with a cold beverage is pure bliss. Whether you are grilling fish over an open flame, electric grill, or plancha, the outcome will be amazing.

Poaching is another way to cook fish and bring out flavors, and also add aroma from the liquid used, such as a court-bouillion.

Baking is a very popular way to cook fish, especially during the colder months. Using a little bit of liquid and or fat, and other ingredients, you can have a wonderful piece of fish that will not only warm the house but the body as well.

Roasting is pretty much the same as baking, but generally at a higher temperature.

Frying is another great way to cook fish, not only in the summer, but all year round. Changing the subtle flavors of the batter, while keeping the moisture of the fish sealed inside, and a bit of sour from a lemon and tartar sauce, this is surely one of the most popular ways used for cooking seafood.

Sauteing, Searing, and Pan Roasting involve cooking fish in a pan over medium to high heat. One of the great benefits of this type of cooking is not only making a nice crispy outside and soft center, but also using the drippings in the pan to make a sauce with a hint of flavor from what you just cooked.

Tips How to Have a Coffee Themed Kitchen

Have you always wanted an Old World style kitchen with a coffee shop theme? You can do it in your own kitchen with only a few tips. Read on. You can make your kitchen classy, elegant, or very simple, but a coffee theme must include the basic model... a coffee atmosphere; inviting, accessible, and pleasant to the eye. Only a true dyed-in-the-wool coffee lover is brave enough to take the plunge, and create a beautiful, warm, and inviting coffee atmosphere that will incite rave reviews. If you are confident, go for it!

When one thinks of Old Word Theme... one thinks of Italian! Enhance the coffee theme with your favorite coffee maker. The Bialetti espresso maker screams Italian and is a good place to start. You can purchase a Bialetti at your favorite online retailer somewhere between $20-$30. Some 2-cup models are less than $20.00 and make wonderful espresso. The Bialetti electric cappuccino maker, the Bialetti Mukka Express will retail for around $85.00.

Another inexpensive theme-based accessory for a coffee kitchen is coffee-themed wall-paper border. A fresh coat of paint and a wall paper border works wonders. If you feel really creative and your budget allows the splurge, try wall-papering only one wall with a coffee theme and apply the border to the remaining three painted walls one inch down from the top of the ceiling. Or, simply apply wallpaper border all the way around the kitchen at the top to draw the eye upward if your ceilings are eight feet high or 1-1&1/2 inches down from the ceiling if your ceilings are over eight feet in height. Some decorative cup hooks under the top set of cupboards creates an accessible and decorative look.

If you do not wish to drill holes in the bottoms of your cupboards, a decorative cup holder is a great alternative and serves the same purpose. I prefer the cup hooks as the cup holder stands tend to get in the way when it comes time for clean-up. Enhance the Old World look of your kitchen further with decorative coffee mugs, a sugar bowl, with cream pitcher set. A small china cupboard with your favorite coffee displays will always be a hit.

An additional way to create a coffee themed kitchen is to install a booth in the kitchen to simulate a 1950's coffee shop. An Italian coffee theme will fit very well with the coffee shop booth. Add a vase of fresh flowers and you have a dreamy coffee themed Kitchen.

Tips How to Make Delicious and Cute Cake Pops

Cake pops are cute and delicious treats and are great alternative for traditional cakes. They are specially great for any kind of parties. There are thousands of options how you can make your cake pops look and taste like. But how to make them? Everybody has seen those cute little pops at Starbucks. Next I'll explain how you can make your cake balls look just as cute at home.

The easiest way to make these treats is by using the Bake Pops pan, which you can order online for a bargain price. Using this pan will save you a tons of time and it's super easy to make these treats with it.

You simply have to follow these three easy steps: First you mix up your favorite cake mixture just simply fill the pan with it. Second you close the lid and let them cook in oven. Third you let your cake pops to cool down and decorate them how you want. That's how simple it is when using Bake Pops pan.

Off course there is also the traditional way to make them. It takes a lot more work and time to make these treats the "old" way. You have to start with baking the cake and when it's done, you have to crumble the cake in small crumbs. Then you have to add frosting to your cake to make it moist. Be careful to not make it too moist because then it's hard to get it to stay on the sticks. Refrigerate your mixture for about 30 minutes until firm and make small balls out of the mixture after that. Lastly insert sticks and decorate how you like.

I have made cake pops both the easy and the hard way. I have to say that the taste is pretty similar both ways but with Bake Pops pan your cake pops come out much cuter. That's because with the pan, balls come out equally round every single time.

So I recommend using the easy way. I'm using my Bake Pops pan almost every weekend with my family. Great way to spend a nice Sunday night with your loved ones making easy, cute and delicious cake pops.

Making Tasty Meals Daily

Do you have a difficult time coming up with new dishes to make for breakfast, lunch and dinner? You are not alone because many individuals are dealing with this same issue each and every day. If you are not a culinary chef with access to the finest foods, spices, and cooking utensils in the world, how can you prepare distinctive tasty meals for two or three times each day, seven days per week?

This is a tough question to answer because most people have busy lives, and the time and energy to cook just does not seem to be available. This is why most households are dealing with Repetitive Food Syndrome. This pattern comes from making the meals that require absolutely no thought. This usually includes any pre-packaged food that you can boil, fry, or bake in 20 minutes or less.

People will get into the habit of making repetitive dishes if they have small children or very demanding jobs. As making a living becomes more important, making tasty meals regularly becomes less important to them. Some people may feel as if there is no way around this, but by making a few adjustments, these individuals can create a variety of tasty meals that will not take up much of their time.

Purchase a Cookbook. Purchasing a cookbook does not mean you cannot cook. It will not hinder your creativity in the kitchen either. All it will do is give you ideas so you can add variety to the meals you currently cook.

Expand Your Ingredients. Experiment with ingredients and spices that you would not normally use. You may find these ingredients at farmers markets and specialty stores. This will help you add a different taste to the foods you cook.

Take a Cooking Class. If you enjoy ethnic food or, like many people, want to learn to cook healthier meals, consider taking a cooking class. The main dishes, side dishes, and desserts that you will learn to cook will surely allow you to add variety to your regular menu.

Use Creative Presentations. Making a dish look pretty is part of adding variety to the meal planning. Using garnishes and other decorations can make the meal look more appetizing. This is a good strategy, especially when it comes to kids!

Tips for Learning How to Cook Different Styles of Food

When it comes to cooking, there are so many great dishes we can make. From appetizers to entrees and soups and desserts, the options are endless. Not to mention, cooking from home allows us to see exactly what we're eating, can help us eat healthier and give us a good hobby to work at.

If you're interested in learning how to cook different styles of food, consider these tips below:

Videos: Looking for a more affordable option when it comes to improving your cooking skills? If so, videos are a great thing to consider. With the help of videos, you can watch step by step directions for certain dishes, and can also learn basic tips for preparation, an easy clean up and learn which tools you need in the kitchen. It's common for us to not even know which instruments to use or even what certain instruments do. As far as videos go, you can either rent them from the library or you can watch them online. Videos can be free; it just takes some time to search for the ones you want.

TV: Whether or not you have a TV in your kitchen, it can be helpful to watch a few cooking shows here and there. Not only are you investing in better cooking skills, but you can also learn how to make good dishes to eat as a family. Since we all like certain things and have different taste buds, we can learn how to modify our meals to what we like.

Cookbook: The great thing about cooking is that you can find all sorts of great books available. From checking books out from your library to going to your local book store, you can find a book on just about everything. So whether you'd like to find books on how to create good Chinese dishes or even books on good hand hygiene and how to avoid spreading germs in the kitchen, there is a book for everything.

Cooking class: It's also a great idea to take a cooking class with your spouse or even a close friend. Cooking classes can teach you all the basic skills and can get you out of the house for an afternoon. From learning the importance of using hand sanitizer after touching raw meats to learning how to avoid dry, overcooked dishes, you can learn all sorts of helpful things in the kitchen. Not to mention, if you're married, this is a great thing you and your spouse can work at together.

How to Cook the Best Red Beans

Red beans and rice are a staple food of Louisiana. We usually eat them once a week. When I went to school, we had them on the lunch menu every week. Now, there maybe some other group of people that eat them more than us, but I haven't met them. And besides all that, we make them the best in New Orleans.

Red beans, like all beans, are hard and dry when you first start with them. The first thing you want to do is wash them and pick out the bad beans. Skip this step and you will have Aunt Mary out to get you for leaving a funky bean in your red beans. After you wash them you need to soak them over night. Soaking them will soften them because the water is absorbed into the bean. This will also make them become larger.

There are a few ingredients you will need to make your red beans really stand out. You definitely need some rice and smoked sausage. In addition, you need onions, bell pepper, and spices. The spices will be combined to make a dry mix that you will add to the beans. The spices consist of onion powder, garlic powder, dry mustard, thyme, cayenne, chili powder, salt and pepper. For all of the spices you use one to two teaspoons per pound of dry beans, except for the salt, pepper, and cayenne. You should use these according to your taste and your specific diet needs.

Once you have the dry spice mix prepared and you have chopped 2 medium onions and 2 green bell peppers, you need to drain the beans and put them on the side. In a 5 quart pot, heat up a table spoon of olive oil, placing the onions and bell peppers in after the oil just starts to smoke. Cook the onions and bell pepper for 6 minutes or until they are brown. After this, lower the heat and add the soaked red beans and stir in the spice mix. Be sure you coat all of the beans with the seasoning mix.

Next, you want to add 3 cups of water to every cup of red beans. For one pound of beans you would add six cups of water. Turn up the heat and bring the beans to a boil. While the beans are heating up, you need to cut up the sausage and pan fry it in olive oil. Then add the sausage to the beans. Once the beans start to boil, cover them, reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 2 - 2 1/2 hours or until the beans are fork tender. Stir the red beans occasionally, being sure to move the beans on the bottom of the pot. Also, check the water level as they are cooking. You want to keep a bit of a soupy quality to the mixture.

Once the beans are fully cooked, take a cup of them out, blend them, and add them back. This is the secret to making your beans creamy. If you want them to be creamier, just blend up some more. An alternative to blending them, and the technique that I use, is to get a big fork or spoon and mash them up against the side of the pot. Just make sure you mix the beans well when you are done.

The only thing left after all of your hard work is to serve them over rice, we use brown rice. Bread goes really well with red beans; so we always have fresh french bread or corn bread with them.

Some Tips for Preventing Food Poisoning

Food poisoning is one thing that people often worry about when eating food at a restaurant, especially if they have not eaten there before. While food poisoning is widely regarded as something that comes from food in a restaurant, or somewhere else outside of the home, keep in mind that food prepared within your own home can cause this problem as well. One benefit, though, is the greater degree of control you can have over the food prepared in your kitchen.

To reduce the risk of food poisoning, one must understand how the food poisoning process works. Coming down with a food-borne illness is a direct result of digesting food that has viruses, bacteria, and even parasites, which have developed on the food over time. While harmful bacteria and other "germs" are common in virtually any environment, a healthy immune system usually protects the body from becoming ill. When you introduce tainted food directly into the body, however, it becomes harder to combat.

Coming down with a food-borne illness typically leads to symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, and even vomiting. Food poisoning symptoms can appear either within a few hours or can take up to a few days to manifest; any timeline will greatly depend on the food that was digested, as well as how your body handles it. With that said, here are a few safety precautions that one must take in order to avoid this type of poisoning:

Know the Risky Foods

If you cannot control the foods that are handed to you such as dishes at a restaurant, you must know which kinds of foods that can cause this sort of poisoning. Food such as undercooked meats, raw produce, and even seafood are notorious for carrying viruses and parasites. Avoiding these dishes altogether can reduce your risk of food poisoning a great deal, but may be considered an unreasonable precaution for meat eaters. It is important to consider both your appetite for risk along with your literal appetite when making choices. However, if you ever feel your food is undercooked, never be afraid to send it back.

Always Wash your Hands and Food Contact Surfaces

Before serving any type of food at home, always make sure that you wash your hands properly and with antibacterial hand soap. You should wash both before and during preparation, especially after handling raw meat, fish, and poultry. Not washing your hands between handing raw meat and lettuce used in a salad, for example, can easily cross contaminate the salad. You also need to sanitize cutting boards, countertops, pans, utensils, and other surfaces that encounter food.

Use a Thermometer

When preparing and cooking items such as meats, use a meat thermometer to ensure that the inside of the meat is at an appropriate temperature. When cooking foods such as fish and chicken, the temperature should always be higher than 140 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. By reaching these temperatures, you will kill the vast majority of live bacteria or parasites.

Always Chill Food

The longest that raw meats should stay out of a refrigerator is two hours. It is best to either thaw your meats in the microwave, or let them sit in the refrigerator until they are ready to be cooked. When thawing food at room temperatures, be sure to set it down on a plate away from any other types of food and make sure that it does not touch the countertop.

Check the Expiration Date

Although this may sound obvious, it is crucial that you check the expiration date on the meats that are going to be prepped. All grocery stores and butchers will place a date to use by on all labels. Be sure to glance at these labels before cooking. If the meat has expired, do not gamble and try to cook it - play it safe and toss it out.