Recently I read an article on CNN.com about a salmonella outbreak connected to two peanut butter brands, Peter Pan and Great Value. The ConAgra plant being investigated is located in Sylvester, Georgia and is currently shut down until further notice.
The FDA has issued a warning not to eat Peter Pan or Great Value brands with the number “2111.”
I have a recipe for Tuna Salad that my family absolutely loves. Here it is:
I mix everything together in this order: tuna; mayo, sour cream (use as much as you feel tastes good to you) and yolks from eggs; spices (again to your taste); whites cut up and mixed in.
Now, I like to use alot of paprika. I got the mayo/sour cream mix from watching my mother-in-law, but the paprika is all mine. I like it because I love the color it makes and it adds something that I can’t put my finger on.
Paprika comes from dried ground capsicum, which is basically a pepper. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word comes from the Hungarian “paprika”, which derives from the Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian “paprika”, which is a diminutive of “papar”, which in turn was derived from the Latin “piper”, for “pepper.”
Paprika is principally used as an ingredient in a broad variety of dishes throughout the world. Paprika (pimentón in Spain, colorau in Portugal) is principally used to season and colour rices, stews, and soups, such as goulash. In Spain, Germany, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Turkey and Portugal, paprika is also used in the preparation of sausages as an ingredient that is mixed with meats and other spices. Paprika may be smoked for additional flavour.
In India, a similar powdered spice comes from a fruit locally called ‘deghi mirchi’, which is grown widely and takes on a slightly different flavour depending on local soil and climatic conditions.
You will find paprika listed on many different spice combinations because of its versatility. It can be used on any group of food, from vegetables to meats. So, the next time you are looking for something to put on your popcorn, in your soup, etc., look to Paprika; you won’t be sorry.
Tonight was a success! I made my first alfredo sauce without ruining it. The recipe I used came from Cooks.com, but I did it a little different. I found a 7 ounce container of a mix of shredded Parmesan, Romano & Asiago cheeses. Since the recipe called for 1/2 cup of Parmesan and 1/2 cup of Romano, I just added a little extra Parmesan to make up the final ounce. I also left out the garlic, but I will probably use it next time. I didn’t make Fettuccine alfredo; we cooked some Penne pasta (my husband’s favorite) and put the sauce on top.
I was a hurry, so the cheese didn’t completely melt like it was supposed to, but my husband was happy with the way it turned out. It was really tasty, and I think next time I will start a little sooner in order to let the cheese melt and the sauce be a little smoother.
Alfredo sauce is most commonly used in Fettuccine Alfredo, but to me the sauce can be used on any pasta. I found this information about this dish/sauce at Wikipedia.com:
As the story goes, Fettuccine Alfredo became extremely popular, and di Lelio’s restaurant attracted many celebrities. Two of these were Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, who fell in love with the dish while on their honeymoon in 1927, and gave him a golden fork to serve it. On their return to the United States they asked for the same recipe, and thus introduced it to the New World. It was also no doubt popularized by the opening of branches of the original Alfredo’s in New York and the EPCOT Center in Orlando.
Despite the story, references to Fettuccine alfredo in American books and newspapers are sparse until about 1980. Fettuccine Alfredo has now become ubiquitous in Italian-American restaurants in the United States, though in Italy, it is mostly served to American tourists.
So I was making this Sausage and rice dish the other day and it called for Saffron and I realized I had no idea what Saffron was, so of course I went to Wikipedia:
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. The flower has three stigmas, which are the distal ends of the plant’s carpels. Together with its style, the stalk connecting the stigmas to the rest of the plant, these components are often dried and used in cooking as a seasoning and colouring agent. Saffron, which has for decades been the world’s most expensive spice by weight, is native to Southwest Asia. It was first cultivated in the vicinity of Greece.
Saffron is characterised by a bitter taste and an iodoform- or hay-like fragrance; these are caused by the chemicals picrocrocin and safranal. It also contains a carotenoid dye, crocin, that gives food a rich golden-yellow hue. These traits make saffron a much-sought ingredient in many foods worldwide. Saffron also has medicinal applications.
The word saffron originated from the 12th-century Old French term safran, which derives from the Latin word safranum. Safranum is also related to the Italian zafferano and Spanish azafrán.Safranum comes from the Arabic word afar which means “yellow,” via the paronymous zafarān the name of the spice in Arabic.
My son had his first school Valentine’s Day Party today. He is in Pre-K. Since I didn’t have an opportunity to do anything for his Christmas party, I made sure that I could do something for Valentine’s Day.
I found some heart-shaped baking cups and decided to make cupcakes. I used the chocolate cake recipe off the Hersheys Cocoa Powder container for the cake. It is the best cake recipe I have found. It is very moist and fluffy. The icing is a buttercream frosting which I dyed red (of course). I can’t remember what the sizes where, but I used Wilton decorating tips for the decorations. Here is a picture of the finished product:
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It was one of the best Valentine’s Days I ever had because of how proud he was of the cupcakes. He told everyone in his class, more than once, that his mommy made the cupcakes. He also told me that they were the best ones he had ever had in his whole life!