Time Flies During The Holidays

Boy, does it ever! My thought when I started this blog was that this would be the perfect time of the year to start a cooking blog, with the Holidays and all of the cooking and baking that is done.

Well, I apologize for the short sight and my lack of posts, as I have been busy the last month and have totally neglected this blog.

I will make it up to you with new and interesting post that will be coming soon.

So, till then enjoy your Holidays and I will do the same!

Till next time.....

Thanksgiving Leftovers

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday and are still enjoying the long weekend.

If you were the lucky one and you got to cook Thanksgiving dinner, like I was, then you are probably blessed with leftovers from the big feast. Instead of just regurgitating the same old thing from the leftovers, I have listed a few recipes below to add some pizazz to your turkey day leftovers.

Turkey sandwiches seem an easy, quick and simple dish to make with the leftovers, so here is some links to some delicious sandwiches.

Hot Turkey Sandwiches

Hot Roasted Turkey Mountain

And here is a great looking and tasting sandwich that is my favorite. It is from our friend Mark Summers and his show Unwrapped called Thanksgiving Unrapped. I love the story about this restaurant that serves Thanksgiving dinner everyday! I know we have a place close to my home called Turkeyville. Do you have anything similar in your area? Let me know!

I couldn't find a video, but basically the sandwich is on a thicker bread, one that can handle a lot of weight. Then thick slices of turkey are placed on the bottom slice of bread, followed by scoop of cranberry sauce and stuffing. It looked very good.

Till next time.....

Alton Brown and the Sweet Potato

Alton Brown is one of the reasons that I have gained an interest in cooking. His show, Good Eats, is my favorite show on the Food Network.

I like the way he goes beyond just the "here is the recipe" type of show and gives a background on what he is cooking in a very entertaining delivery.

My last post was, in a way, influenced by Alton's show Good Eats from last week. It was about sweet potatoes and had some very nice recipes on it.

So I snooped around YouTube.com and finally found the episode on the sweet potato. Take a few minutes and watch it and hopefully it will inspire you to enter the contest from my last post. Enjoy!

Till next time.....

The Value of Sweet Potatoes

As Thanksgiving approaches, many a housewife and cook are sifting through hundreds of cookbooks looking for a new way to cook up the traditional sweet potato to go with the Thanksgiving turkey and fixings. Only to fall back on the time old recipe of whipped sweet potatoes with marshmallows melted on top. While I do like that recipe, I am sure there are many other ones.

I try to have sweet potatoes at least once a month or so as they are very rich in beta carotene, vitamins C and B6 and I really like them. Sweet potatoes can be boiled, microwaved, steamed, baked, slice and fried into chips or fries. They can even be made into a delicious desert pie!

Whatever way you like to prepare your sweet potatoes, you may consider entering your recipe into the annual Get Fresh with North Carolina Sweet Potatoes Recipe Contest that has a deadline of April 15, 2008. So now is the time to try new recipes on your friends and family during your Thanksgiving, Christmas and Holiday meals. The contest is sponsored by the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission, Inc. and Taste of the South magazine.

The contest breaks down the recipes into four categories: soups, salads, sides and sweets. With $500 dollars going to the individual category winners and a Grand Prize winner from the category winners will win $3000! So enter today!

So, not only is the sweet potato good for you, it could also put an easy $3000 in your pocket! What a valuable tuber!

Till next time.....

Pumpkin Bars for this Holiday

With the Holidays coming up, I am going to try and get as many recipes in here as possible before they are over.

The first one that I have found is Pumpkin Pie Bars from KraftFoods.com and they are terribly delicious. Just follow the link above for the recipe and enjoy.

Coming up soon is our recipe for Monster Cookies!

Till next time.....

Start Holiday Cooking Now!

It is that time of year when you start planning your Holiday cooking.

While planning the big feast on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas are not that hard, it is the little stuff like candy, cookies, cakes and pies that you can start on right now to prevent all-nighters the week before Santa comes.

A couple of reasons for this is that things like candy can be made early and stored till later. Another reason is if your not in practice or your candy thermometer doesn't work, it may take a few batches to get things right.

So, that is why I made a batch of peanut brittle last week. Plus the fact that I had never made it before weighed heavy in my decision too. It was a good thing I did. The first batch I made turned out bad. It was hard, but when you ate it, the brittle would end up like a big caramel rolling around in your mouth.

The second batch I made has turned out much better. It is very crunchy and has a good peanutty taste to it. The recipe that I used can be found at FudgeMail.com and a big thank you to them also. I have included a picture of the peanut brittle cooling on a cookie sheet after I cooked it.

I am interested if anyone else has made peanut brittle and if the recipes are similar or not. I preferred this recipe because it did not use any artificial coloring. The color of the brittle is from cooking the brittle just right.

Well, I hope that you enjoy this recipe and let me know how your attempt goes.

Till next time.....

Welcome to Start Cooking Now!

Welcome to Start cooking Now!

The last few months I have started to gain interest in cooking. I am an avid watcher of the Food Network and I found all the different things that can be done with food just amazing.

I am definitely not a pro, I have never taken a cooking course or anything like that. All that I know now is what I have absorbed through my life.

On this blog I will try and share with you aspects of cooking and baking that maybe new to us. I will post recipes, contests, kitchen secrets, new cooking tools and will even post interesting scientific facts about food. Anything that will make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable will be posted here.

So, thanks for stopping by Start Cooking Now and I hope you enjoy it. I encourage comments and suggestions from you and will be looking forward to hearing from you.

Till next time.....