Kitchen Activites

Infographic Provided By Steel & O’Brien

A major reason for the success of the barbecue industry in the United States are the seemingly endless amounts of sauces available. Believe it or not, U.S expenditures for barbecue sauce production is nearly $2 billion per year, and this doesn’t even consider the home-made recipes that are crafted. But maybe all of these choices leave you with a few questions. The primary one being: which sauce is for me?

As there are so many sauce options out there, often times the choice comes down to the meat you’re paring the sauce with. For example, which sauce pairs best with slow-cooked ribs? Or a pulled chicken sandwich? The best sauce compliments the meat, but more often than not it can be difficult to find that perfect match. Unfortunately, the result of a wrong sauce pairing is often a disappointing meal. However, this doesn’t always have to be the case!

The featured resource of this post is a great reference for the barbecue enthusiasts looking for their optimal sauce pairing. Even if you’re a barbecue novice, (more…)

Provided by Itaki

If you are like most people, time is one of the biggest enemies for any cook, seasoned or novice.  People assume countless hours are needed to make a great meal but that is not always the case!  In today’s world, many of us need to cook healthy meals but do it quickly.  Forget going through the drive-thru after work, just get home and spend 30 minutes to create a meal that tastes good and will benefit you more than that disgusting mystery meat burger. To educate your kid about how to properly eat  and cook since he or she is young, buy them this kids aprons.

It’s so simple to jazz up your weekday dinners. All you need are some spices, creativity and my tricks!

Let’s start with the sides. One of my constant companions to any meal is veggies. I try to incorporate at LEAST one with every meal. An easy and fast way to prepare vegetables are to roast them in the oven at a high temperature, around 375 to 400 degrees F. This will retain vitamins and minerals while caramelizing the sugars in the veggies, (more…)

Imagine you have a rewarding job that allows you benefit from your talent and creativity and you love cooking as a personal chef. A personal chef is hired to prepare a healthy meals for individual, families or even to provide in-home and office daily catering and for small gatherings.

When you start your career as a personal chef, you will find the prospect to your financial rewards and enjoy the freedom of running your own business. Such services are in growing demand. According to Entrepreneur magazine, such a business is considered to be one of the fastest growing businesses in the country and has become one of the best home based businesses to start. (more…)

A few months ago (gosh how did that happen?!) a group of us who hadn’t seen each other for ages got together to catch up over what can only be described as a feast! (I bought the hostess some flowers, naturally…)

Roasted Duck lasagna, homemade crunchy coleslaw, homemade baked cheesecake, the feast goes on! Our friend Jossie knocked all this up after coming home from a morning full of lectures, oh yeah she’s studying to become a Doctor, there is no end to this girls talents!

But it was the starter that caught my eye the most so, I asked if I could put it up on Ria’s Ideas. She was a little apprehensive at first, worried that her secret as a fraud ‘hostess with the mostess’ would be out because it may look fancy but it really is very simple. (more…)