I absolutely love to cook, bake, and test new recipes. In this blog post, I’m going to show you all of my tips, tricks, and, if I’m feeling generous, a few secrets to food that I use to make my family’s favorite dishes. Here is my Rules to Food!
Rules To Spices
You will never see me make a dish without at least six spices. Here are my go-tos that im always sure to keep in my pantry:
- Garlic Salt
- I prefer to always use garlic salt in my dishes over regular table salt. It enhances the flavor quicker, and garlic goes with everything!
- Pepper
- I feel that the power of pepper is always overlooked! I love the spicy kick that pepper brings to all of my dishes.
- Lemon Pepper
- Speaking of pepper, lemon pepper is perfect for balancing the flavors in most dishes. It brings a fun lemon flavor and makes your food that much more interesting to eat!
- Lawry’s Seasoning Salt
- Seasoning Salt, specifically Lawry’s brand, adds a different and exciting flavor to your dishes. My family even likes to top our popcorn and French fries with this salt. A great alternative to just salt.
- Cayenne Pepper
- This one is definitely just a personal preference, but I just can’t make a dish without making it a bit spicy! Cayenne adds a refreshing spice to my meals.
- Accent (MSGs)
- MSGs come in handy when you can taste all of the flavors in your creation, but you haven’t made it BANG yet! This is my first choice for flavor enhancers; just a little bit goes a long way.
Every time I cook, I am sure to add in at least three of these spices, but there are a few other brands I keep in my cabinet to add extra flavor. Here are my honorable mentions:
Rules to Baking
As much as I love cooking, I love baking even more. I’m a science nerd through and through, and the science of baking is one of my absolute favorites to learn. These tips have helped me level up my dessert game.
- Measuring
- Always measure your dry ingredients using measuring spoons, and your wet ingredients using a measuring cup.
- For accuracy and precise measurements, always try to weigh your ingredients with a kitchen scale. Doing this will ensure all of your ingredients are properly balanced.
- If you don’t follow any of my baking tips, follow this one: For flour, never scoop, always spoon! Flour packs, and if you are scooping, you’re getting more flour than needed. Use a spoon to scoop flour then pour into your measuring cup, once your cup is full, scrape off the excess.
- Temperature
- Don’t microwave your butter! This can cause your butter to heat unevenly. The temperature and consistency of your butter can change the texture of your entire dessert. Listen to what your recipe says, and if it says to let it come to room temperature, set your butter out about an hour before you start to bake.
- Unlike butter, you can hack your eggs into coming to room temperature sooner. A trick my GMA taught me is to set eggs in a bowl of lukewarm water for about 10 minutes.
- ALWAYS chill your cookie dough. I used to skip this step and put my cookies directly into the oven from the mixer, that turned out awful. Chilling your dough solidifies the fat and allows your cookies to hold their shape better in the oven.
- When making cut-out sugar cookies, chill your dough as (as per the recipe) in the fridge right after mixing. Once you’re ready to roll it out, divide the dough into sections. Keep the sections you’re not working with in the freezer so they stay cold. After cutting out shapes from one section, place the cut cookies and any leftover scraps from that section back in the fridge to firm up again before baking.
- When baking and decorating cakes, I follow these steps to ensure my cakes don’t melt or fall:
- Make frosting while cakes are in oven.
- Put the icing in the fridge.
- Remove cakes from oven.
- Cool in pan for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the pan and cool for 10 more minutes.
- Level cakes.
- Put cake in fridge for 30 minutes or until firm.
- Take the frosting out to thaw.
- Set up cake decorating area and mix frosting by hand about 10 times to work out air bubbles.
- Place frosting in a piping bag.
- Take the cake out of the fridge and stack it with frosting between each layer. Work quickly.
- Crumb coat your cake. Work quickly
- Place the frosted cake in the fridge for 30 minutes or until firm.
- Remove cake from fridge, decorate, place in fridge until you serve.
- Quick “How do I know it’s done” tests:
- Underbake brownies slightly to retain chewy texture.
- Take cookies out as soon as they are golden, they will finish cooking on the pan after you take them out.
- For cakes, the toothpick test is a tried and true method, but a fork works just as well.
- For sourdough, listen for a hollow sound when tapped or knocked.
Rules to Produce
I always like to keep produce on hand because of its versatility and convenience. I use produce in all of my meals in order to add nutrition and flavour. Here is a list of fruits and veggies I always have and why.
- Garlic – A great flavor enhancer for most if not all savory dishes.
- Onion – Compliments and balances flavors and can be used in most dishes. A great crunch as well.
- Bell pepper – Any color works but I prefer all the colors in my dishes. It adds great flavour and color and is also a great way to sneak in healthy veggies.
- Carrots – A fun and crunchy addition to a soup, or stew. If it floats your boat, it doesn’t float mine, carrots are a great snack by themselves as well.
- Celery – Also great for soups and stews and a good crunchy snack.
- Strawberries – Filling, quick, and fun to eat. Can be great for sauces, salads, or a fun dessert.
- Blueberries – Perfect for smoothies, muffins or a jam.
Thank you so much for reading! Stay Alive and be All Over.