Using the Internet for cooking
Do you ever find yourself trying to think of what to make for dinner that is a bit different? Something you haven't made before or just not something you make very often?
I know I do. I tend to make a lot of different recipes from many different styles of cuisine but sometimes I just can't think of anything to make.
This past week I decided I would like stuffed bell peppers for dinner but I only had one lonely bell pepper. When you live 30-minutes from the closest grocery store it isn't always worth leaving the house for just a few little items and I didn't want my husband to have to wait on dinner after he got home from work, or I may have asked him to stop for peppers on his way home.
So I ended up making skillet stuffed peppers by poking around on the internet and finding a recipe that someone had made without actually putting the stuffing into the peppers. They simply cut up the peppers and browned them in butter with fresh garlic and then added the ground beef to brown, spices, tomato sauce, diced onions and cooked rice. It tasted just like stuffed peppers only done on the stovetop.
I use the Internet for cooking tips, recipe searches, ingredient substitution searches, measurement conversions and meat cooking time and temperature charts. It is a wonderful resource for any cook and can be very helpful when you just can't think of what to make for dinner.
.story-ad {
width: 310px;
float: left;
margin: 0 10px 10px 0;
padding: 4px;
}
- Advertisement -
OAS_AD('x22');
Some Web sites even allow you to plug in a few ingredients you might have on hand and a list of recipes using them will come up. Some allow you to make customized shopping lists so you can purchase everything you need for a certain recipe and not forget anything.
The Internet has become a big part of our lives as a learning tool and a resource. As a cook it is faster to use than searching through my cookbooks and recipe cards. I am slowly but surely trying to put all my own recipes on my computer so I can easily find those as well when I can't quite remember if it was a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or was it a tablespoon of white vinegar for example.
My husband has even started using the computer to compile our grocery list and even organize it by store section so he can be in and out of the grocery store in no time at all. If speed grocery shopping were an Olympic sport he'd win many medals. He can look at the bookmarks for recipes I've marked or the ones of my own that I plan to cook that week and double check to make sure I didn't miss anything on the list. He is great at helping me that way, or in some cases something I thought we still had, he knows the last was used the night before while I was at work and he can add it back to the list.
Butter or margarine in stick form is a common one that gets left off a list by me because I won't realize he used the last few tablespoons the night before making a pot of mac and cheese to go along with whatever main course I cooked for dinner for them to have while I am at work in the evening.
Having that extra help and the computer and Internet to help as well has made us keep to a stricter budget when shopping for groceries and to plan out our meals and lunches better.
Here is a list of my favorite Web sites that might help you too:
www.whatsfordinner.net
www.campbellkitchen.com
www.mamawhatsfordinner.com
www.bettycrocker.com
www.pillsbury.com
www.tasteofhome.com
www.kraftfoods.com
www.allrecipes.com
www.recipezaar.com
Meat cooking times:
Pork: www.theotherwhitemeat.com
www.askthemeatman.com
www.helpwithcooking.com
www.foodreference.com
www.favoritefreezerfoods.com
A site To help
with conversions:
www.onlineconversion.com/cooking.htm
For easy ingredient
subsitution:
www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html