First Timers Cookbook

Cooking Ideas for Dinner

Some great cooking ideas for dinner are something that anyone can use.  If you’re like me, it seems like we have the same things for dinner over and over.  This could be for many reasons but I believe that since we are creatures of habit. We tend to go back to what we are comfortable or familiar with or we tend to gravitate to that which is easiest and quickest since most people have to work and don’t have time to just cook dinner all day.

Well I suggest that break out of that habit, so I’m presenting cooking ideas for dinner that are the best of both worlds, quick and easy, but yet comfortable, affordable and unique enough that anyone who sees these cooking ideas for dinner will recognize them as familiar but still think, “Sounds good, I want to try that.”

Cooking ideas for dinner – One-Pot Meals

These are dishes that have all of the components (protein, starch, vegetables) in one pot or one container.  It’s easy to assemble these and just put them in a crock-pot, roasting pan, or pot on the stove.  This way you can set it up and let it cook while you’re away, then by the time you get back . . . Its ready to go!

One pot meals include things like:

• Latin-Style Chicken and Rice
• Beef Pot Roast with Potatoes, Carrots and Onions
• Pork loin, Pork Chops, Pork Shoulder or Pork Butt . . .with Yams and Parsnips
• Salmon with Celery, Leeks and Cous Cous
• Corned Beef and Cabbage with Red Potatoes

Advantages:

1. Easy to prepare.
2. Can be prepared ahead of time.
3. Very little hands on (comparatively speaking) 

Cooking ideas for dinner – Salads

One of my favorite cooking ideas for dinner is probably the Salad buffet – You can use everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to canned or frozen beans, fruits and vegetables.  Plus, nowadays you can buy everything ready to go right out of the bag (if that is what you want).   

Advantages:

1. Everything is almost ready to go with little or no cooking involved.
2. You are eating more fruits and vegetables!
3. Customizable!  If you don’t like it, don’t put it on your salad.

Disadvantages:

1. You do still have to put forth some effort when opening cans, microwaving or cutting items…

Cooking ideas for dinner – Sandwiches

Pretty self-explanatory, this is one of those cooking ideas for dinner that allows you to put things between bread or can make open face sandwiches by putting toppings on top of the bread and eating it with a fork and knife.

Advantages:

1. Put whatever you want between or on top of bread…
2. Clean up the fridge by mixing items that usually wouldn’t get eaten and hide them between the bread.  They’ll love it and never know what hit em’.
3. Want it hot?  Just grill it.

Disadvantages:

1. Again, a little bit of effort is required. . .

I know these suggestions may seem somewhat generic, but hopefully you will get some of those creative juices going and create some classics or even routines out of these basic cooking ideas for dinner!

Cooking ideas for dinner - Baked Potato Bar 

Baked Potatoes got a bad rep recently because of the atkins-no-carb-craze, but in reality these cooking ideas for dinner are very nutritious and full of fiber.  Plus, they go great with a lot of things. Easy to make, little bit effort, a lot of reward. 

Bake a potato, top them with any combination of ingredients and enjoy.

Popular Toppings include, but are not limited to:  Broccoli with Cheese Sauce, Chili, Sour Cream and Chives and Bacon with Cheddar Cheese.  

Cooking ideas for dinner – Stir-fry

Stir fry dishes are one of those cooking ideas for dinner are very simple and fast.  You can combine almost anything in a pan and stir it while it frys.  Throw in a sauce, you got a meal.

Want some specific recipes for these cooking ideas for dinner?  Try these!

Want to learn more cooking ideas for dinner?  Check out our online cooking program!

Get the First Timer’s Cookbook, DVD or both right here!

“Meat Temperature Cooking Chart“

The best, most accurate way of cooking meat is by measuring the internal temperature with a meat probe and then correlating the temperatures from the meat temperature cooking chart to what your desired result is.  But its also very important to get the right grade of meat as well as the right product for the desired end result.

The US Department of Agriculture says the following meat temperature cooking chart will produce safely cooked, but still flavorful meats:

I personally have never seen steaks cooked with this meat temperature cooking chart turn out flavorful and juicy.  Unless you like dry, flavorless, powdery meat . . . don’t follow this meat temperature cooking chart.

This meat cooking temperature chart on the other hand is what we have always used in the restaurants and hotels:

Chef Shawn’s Meat temperature cooking chart

Bleu – 110 degrees (or much less) - This is how the old cattle ranchers like their steaks. Literally just put marks on the outside of it and send it out.  The middle is usually still cold.  Not cool, cold.

Rare – 120-125 degrees – Cool red center, juicy, and not for the faint-at-heart.  The middle is a very deep red.

M. Rare – 130 degrees – Deep Pink center with flowing red juices, my personal favorite of all the temperatures on the meat temperature cooking chart.

Medium – 135 – 140 degrees – Nice warm consistent pink-colored center, a good “all purpose” temperature.  Not overdone, still nice and juicy.

M. Well – 145 – 150 degrees – Little bit of pink in it, but definitely lacking on the juiciness.  A good segway into good meat for those who will only it “well done.”  A good temperature for burgers and other ground beef items.

Well – 160 degrees (or more) – Don’t do it, its a mistake.

Now, for those of you who don’t want to use the meat temperature cooking chart or poke the meat a probe, you can check the meat’s doneness this way too.

Grading

This is an important part of cooking any meat, mostly because you can’t start with an average product and get above average results.  There are basically 3 different categories that you will find meat (specifically beef) broken down into.

Prime – (less than 2% of all beef) Steak Houses like Ruth’s Chris and high-end foodservice outlets (Costco is starting to carry this).  Don’t over cook! (Refer to the meat temperature cooking chart for specifics)

Choice – Standard for almost all foodservice outlets, Costco carries this and that’s why I buy my meat there.  Don’t over cook! (Refer to the meat temperature cooking chart for specifics)

Select – Most grocery stores will carry this, some foodservice outlets . . . This is what Taco Bell uses for their steak . . . Especially don’t over cook this! (Refer to the meat temperature cooking chart for specifics)

What cuts do I use for grilling and broiling?

Steaks with a lot of good marbling work best.  Marbling is the little fat streaks you see within the muscle tissue, not the big chunks of fat you see around the edge.  We call that . . . Well . . .Fat.

The meat is naturally tender and requires less cooking time to reach a nice consistency.

Examples: Tenderloin, Ribeye, New York, Top Sirloin                 (My Favorites)

What cuts do I use for roasting and braising?

Larger cheaper cuts of meat that have more connective tissue and are naturally tough, won’t generally fall into the temperature used on the meat temperature cooking chart because these meats generally require more cooking time.  My thoughts, if we are going to just cook the meat until it disolves the connective tissues so that the meat just falls apart, why buy the expensive stuff if it’s just going to come out the same?  That’s why these cuts of meat don’t fall under the meat temperature cooking chart.

Examples: roasts (chuck, rump), brisket, etc.

There you have it, a meat temperature cooking chart and some pointers to making some great meat.  So use this meat temperature cooking chart as a guide and get creative!

Like the meat temperature cooking chart?  Learn more by joining the online cooking program here!

Get the meat temperature cooking chart in The First Timer’s Cookbook, DVD or both right here!

How to Cook

The Making of The First Timer’s Cookbook- Teaching people How to Cook

Over the last 3 years we have been asked over and over what makes the First Timer’s Cookbook different from other cookbooks.  The answer is simple.  This is a book that teaches you how to cook, not what to cook like most cookbooks.  This means that you can take the principles and techniques taught in the book and apply them to almost any dish or item that you are making, in other words learn how to cook.  It also means that you can use this book in conjunction with every other book out there as kind of a reference guide.  When a recipe calls for an item(s) to be poached, a lot of people don’t know what that is or how to properly do it.  That’s where the First Timer’s Cookbook is really handy, you can see how to poach something effectively and get a basic reasoning on why you do that so that you’re not just blindly following the recipe.  In fact, once you learn how to cook, then you can change recipes to fit what you like. 

Most cookbooks out there are collections of recipes.  How does following a recipe teach you how to cook?  Sure you can follow it and hopefully get a result, but what if you’re unfamiliar with some of the ingredients, or don’t know how to poach/braise/grill (or whatever cooking medium the recipe calls for)?  What if you don’t really like some of the things in the recipe, do you know what each ingredient does so that you know if you can omit it or not without ruining the recipe?  There are cookbooks out there that will define these things and show you how to do them and even give you a recipe to try in alot of cases, but they are usually over 900 pages in length and sometimes cost $50 to $150 dollars! Why not learn the basics of cooking for $12.95 and even get a personal demonstration and recipes to practice (classes that private culinary schools charge $1200 to learn) for only $39.95

Now for those of you who have been to Chef Shawn’s classes, or been to a demonstration, you have probably heard the story of how the book came to be. . . But for those of you who haven’t, here it is in his own words . . .

“Being a chef, I would get asked alot by friends and family members to ‘teach (them) how to cook.’   Unfortunately, while working in professional kitchens doesn’t allow for lots of time to devote to teaching people how to cook, so I would try to recommend books that people could use a basis for learning how to cook when ever I was asked to teach someone how to cook.   The problem was I could not think of any books that would work for people that were just getting started but wanted to learn how to cook.  You either have a larger-than-life professional chef textbook that includes everything from dishes that are impractical to cook on a daily basis by the home cook, to  ingredients that are not readily available in grocery stores-some of which you can’t even pronounce the names. On the other hand there are an amazing amount of recipe books out there, but they are just that, a collection of recipes.  They don’t always explain why they do things or why they use certain ingredients.  In other words, they give you the opportunity to make a dish but not truly understand how to cook.  So I decided to write a book that would show the universal principles and techniques of cooking and explain when and why we use them, i.e how to cook.  Thus, to borrow an old proverb, giving people the ability to fish (teaching them how to cook), rather than just giving them a fish (following a recipe).  The book is designed to be used in conjunction with any other cookbook out there and is a good reference guide as well as a simple way to get started.

The book started as a simple word document that I would hand out to people when they would ask me to teach them how to cook.  Soon, enough people were asking me for it that I felt it would be beneficial to maybe add some pictures and maybe try selling it.  That was when I spoke with #1 NY Bestselling author Richard Paul Evans.

Rick and I had known each other for a year or two when he shared with me a new venture he was launching to help authors get published and I thought ’Hey, why not.’  He even gave it to his newly-wed daughter as a wedding gift to get her on the path to learning how to cook.

A year later, The First Timer’s Cookbook was on store shelves, teaching people across the country how to cook. 

Just as its easier said than done to learn how to cook, getting the book to this point was no small thing.  Thousands of hours, thousands of dollars and lots of writing and re-writing, led to getting the first basic “how to cook” book on the shelves initially.  Then of course came the crash course on marketing, publicity, recipe and class development.  As Chef Shawn said, “No one told me that I couldn’t just write a book and have it sell, I had to become a master at marketing and business just to get in the stores, let alone learning how to get them to move the book. . . I just wanted to cook.”

So maybe it hasn’t always (or ever) been easy, but it has been a labor of love.  “As more and more people approach me and tell me that they love the book and that they learned how to cook from it . . . And of course that it makes great wedding gifts . . . I can’t help but be grateful for the experiences, both good and challenging. I can’t wait for the second edition to come out with all the updates and clarifications from everything I have learned!”

So the question is, do you want to try it out?

You can Buy the Book or DVD . . .Or Both right Here!

Check out the Online Cooking Program right here and take the next step in learning how to cook!

“Real Balsamic Vinegar”

Real Balsamic Vinegar comes from the Modena, Italy region and like most authentic Italian products, is produced under rigid restrictions.  It was originally manufactured as a tonic, but is now considered a high-end flavoring.  It is also the bestselling vinegar in America accounting for over 45% of all vinegar sales.

How Real Balsamic Vinegar is made

There are a few ways real balsamic vinegar is made. Modern American manufacturing (that is not governed under any laws) that is designed to satisfy the growing demand can be made in just a few hours and includes sweetening and coloring plain wine vinegar and then packaging it as “Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.” The better or traditional way of making real Balsamic vinegar begins by taking White Trebbiano grape pressings and boiling them down to a dark syrup and then aging it. The syrup is placed initially into oak kegs, along with vinegar and the aging process begins. Over the years it graduates and is moved to smaller and smaller kegs made of chestnut, cherry wood, ash, mulberry, and juniper until it is ready for sale. All of these woods progressively add different flavors to the real balsamic vinegar. As it ages, moisture evaporates out, further thickening the vinegar and concentrating the flavor.  The real balsamic vinegar is aged for a minimum of 12 years and generally over 15 years with some bottles aging over 100 years. Real Balsamic vinegar that has aged for these longer periods of time can cost more than $400 for just over 2 ounces, making it one of the most expensive ingredients in the world. 

Don’t want to spend the money on expensive real Balsamic Vinegar?  Try reducing the cheaper Balsamic vinegars and adding a few things to sweeten and savor the deal!

Balsamic Reduction

Recipe Yield:   ¼ Cup

 8 oz                         Real Balsamic Vinegar

1 tblspn                 Honey

1 tsp                       Salt

1. Pour real Balsamic vinegar into a medium-sized pot and turn on “high” heat.
2. Allow real Balsamic vinegar to boil for approximately 10 to 15 minutes until it becomes fairly thick.
3. Remove from heat and stir in Honey and Salt.
4. Serve immediately or store in a cool dry place almost indefinitely.

Want to learn more?  Check out our online cooking program here!

Get The First Timer’s Cookbook, DVD or both right here!

“Lemonade Recipes”

Summer time!  There really is nothing like hot summer days and warm summer nights.  BBQs and campouts, picnics and water fights, everything fun usually centers around summertime.  The pinnacle of summer is of course right in the middle of it . . . The 4^th of July.

The birthday of our nation is almost always centered around and celebrated with BBQs, parades and fire work displays.  A staple of these get-togethers is ice cold drinks, in particular Lemonade recipes. 

There are many different opinions for who came up with first version of lemonade recipes, but there are definitely more than just a few versions of the sweet and sour icy cold refresher.  One of the most popular versions and my favorite version is good old southern style lemonade recipes, characterized by the honey used to sweeten them.  Maybe you’re unfamiliar with these versions, or maybe it’s been awhile since you had one . . . So the question is, do you want to try it?

Southern Style Lemonade recipes**

(Mildly Sweet Version)*

Yield: Approximately 1 Gallon

Ingredients

1 Gal                Water

1 Cup               Sugar

½ Cup              Lemon Juice

¼ Cup              Honey

Procedure

Mix all ingredients together and stir until mixture is consistent throughout.

*For a much sweeter version add 2 cups off sugar instead of one and 1/2 cup of honey instead of 1/4 cup.

**For Regular style lemonade recipes and not Southern Style Lemonade recipes, simply use 2 cups of sugar and omit the honey completely.

Of course there are many other versions of Lemonade recipes, most of which have become more and more popular on restaurant menus and in bars.  Like for example the Strawberry Lemonade recipes which can be made by simply adding whole strawberries, sliced strawberries, strawberry puree, strawberry flavored syrup or any combinations of these as well.  The whole strawberries or slices are more for look and texture and the strawberry puree and syrup are more for actual flavor (the syrup being the popular choice for restaurants).  Of course this works with other lemonade recipes using fruits like raspberries or peaches, or again any combination.  

Maybe fruit isn’t your style, and you want a more grown up taste. Try adding some fresh herbs.  Basil, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme all go well with these lemonade recipes and add a truly unique spin on a classic!  Simply drop a leaf or stem or two into each glass and stir, then let that flavor infuse for 2 to 3 minutes and you got your self a winner!  

Now what if you would like the lemonade recipes but don’t like all that sugar and sweetner?  Simply use the best all-natural sugar substitute on the market today-agave sugar!  It’s natural and better for you because it has less calories and won’t spike insulin levels, so your diabetic friends can enjoy it as well without worries.  The brand that I like is Xagave (pronounced za-gav-ae).  Why?  Because unlike most agave nectars on the market today, it’s not cooked so it doesn’t have the burnt sugar/honey taste that most agave nectars do, has fiber in it and is easier to digest.  All the benefits of regular agave nectar, without any of the negatives.

So when I’m making lemonade recipes at home, I like to use the Xagave product to sweeten it up.  It tastes almost identical without about half the calories of the traditional lemonade recipes.  Plus, it comes in individual packets so I can make single glasses of lemonade recipes if I want to.

Check it out at www.xagave.com. . . If you like it you can even save 20% on your order by entering the promo code “BUCHER”

To make your lemonade recipes with Xagave, simply replace the 1 cup of Sugar with 2/3 cup of Xagave.  Yep, that simple.

Click try some other lemonade recipes!

So this Fourth of July we invite you to join with your families, friends and neighbors all to mark the occasion of not only making some lemonade recipes but also to the founding of our country and overall summer fun.

So make yourself some lemonade recipes and raise a glass to the 4^th of July and summertime!

“Making Baking Powder” 

Before we jump into making baking powder, its important to know a litte about baking powder like what it is, how its used and of course making baking powder if you’re out of it. 

Baking Powder – Another chemical leavener, it is a mix of Baking soda, an acidic salt and some cornstarch to keep everything separated until the liquid is added (so when we are making baking powder we just combine these things) Baking powder creates carbon dioxide when it is mixed with liquid and heat.  You will see a single acting and a double acting baking powder.  Single acting baking powders start to create carbon dioxide when liquid is added to it, double acting will do the same, but the majority of the carbon dioxide production will begin when heat is added to it.  Since single acting is similar to how baking soda works, you will primarily find double acting baking powder in the stores.  A popular brand is Rumsford Baking Powder, named after the man who created it.  As a general rule you will only use about 1 teaspoon of baking soda for 1 cup of flour in your recipes.

Buying, Storing, Testing  - When buying baking powder look for the box with the latest possible expiration date.  Store it in an airtight container in a cupboard away from light, moisture and heat.  It will only last about 6 months from the time it is opened.  Wondering if your baking powder is still good?  Take about a ½ cup of very hot water and add just a little vinegar (about a ¼ teaspoon) and then add some of the baking powder.  If the baking powder is still good the water will bubble, if it’s not, it won’t.  (Advantage to making baking powder – By making baking powder you will know its good and won’t have to test it.)

Out of Baking Powder? (Making Baking Powder) Combine 1 tablespoon of Baking Soda, 2 tablespoons of Cream of Tartar, 1 tablespoon of Cornstarch and stir until thoroughly mixed.

 Want another way to Making Baking Powder?

http://frugalliving.about.com/od/condimentsandspices/r/Baking_Powder.htm

There you have the first timers guide to making baking powder.  

Want to learn more about making baking powder?  Check out our online cooking program here!

Get the First Timer’s Cookbook, DVD or both right here!

“Knife Skills”

Here is a preview of Knife Skills and a basic station set-up contained in the DVDs that will be in stores soon, but that you can order now right here!

In these videos we are setting up our station and using basic knife skills.  Knife Skills are an important part of cooking because you want to be able to NOT cut yourself and to continue to cook, something that you cannot do if you’re missing fingers.

 (taken from The First Timer’s Cookbook)

No matter what knife you use, knife skills are basically the same and come down to this–don’t cut yourself.

If you watch your mom or grandmother use knife skills to cut things like potatoes, vegetables or meat, you may think that it looks safe enough, since they are not cutting themselves each time. But then you watch a professional chef use knife skills to slice up an onion, in half the time it takes your mom, all while keeping their fingers right next to the blade. You may think to yourself, “How do they keep their fingers so close and cut it so fast and not cut themselves?” That’s because you know that from watching your mom or grandmother, if they were to go that fast, cutting the way that they do, they would most definitely be without some fingers. Just remember, the reason that your mom cuts the way she does, is because Grandma showed her. And the reason that Grandma cuts the way she does, is because Great Grandma showed her, and so on and so forth. Cooking is an essential skill that almost everyone at one time or another has wanted to master at some level. Good knife skills are apart of cooking.  So when we want to learn how to do something, we look to those who are there who already know how and we emulate them. Good recipes can travel through a family for decades. But so can bad habits formed through ignorance.

You know that if your mom knew a better, faster way to use her knife skills she would show you. But if she doesn’t, then look to those who do.

Always keep your fingers and thumb out of harm’s way by keeping them back and letting your fingers guide your knife.

If you follow this rule you will not cut yourself. One of the first chefs I ever worked for told me this and I did not believe him until after I cut the tip off of my finger for the second time. Then I really started to listen.

Keep your blade against your knuckles, so that you know that your hand is out of harm’s way. By using your knuckles as guides, you will always have a bearing on the knife. This is how the chefs you see on TV can always look at the camera instead what they are cutting. They know exactly where their knife is at all times. They are constantly in contact with the blade and know that if they keep their fingers back, nothing will happen.

These are just the preview videos, the actual videos are longer and have more information.  There are 37 different videos as well as recipes and special reports you can download.

Enjoy!

Station Set-up

Knife Skills

Knife Skills

Mother’s day has come and gone, but luckily you can have bread pudding anytime! 

Check out how Chef Shawn got his start and how he owes it all to his Mom. . . Kind of.

http://www.salttvnetwork.com/articles/20110512/first-timers-guide-bread-pudding-salt-tvs-chef-shawn-bucher

Check out the newest article on Salt TV network!

http://www.salttvnetwork.com/articles/20110421/first-timers-guide-cooking-ham-just-time-easter

Another year, another IDOS Cast Iron Chef’s challenge.

Each year that each chef is a part of the challenge, Camp Chef donates a gift for each of us.  This year we recieved a 10 inch dutch oven . . . Thank You Camp Chef! 

Much like the “Iron Chef’s” challenges we were given secret ingredients, this year: Coconut Rum, Nutella and Cinnamon Gummy Bears.  We had to put one of each of the secret ingredients into each of the three dishes: the dessert, bread and Entree, all cooked in a dutch oven.

We also had a mystery protein, which just happened to be Rabbit this year.

Dessert

Nutella Cheesecake with White Chocolate Ganache

This was a great start to the competition.  This dish took first place in the Dessert category.

Bread

Coconut Rum Biscuits

This dish did well also, tying for second place.

Want to try them out? Download The Recipe!

Coconut Rum Biscuits

Entree

Braised Cinnamon Bear Rabbit Paella with Barley

This was the blacksheep of the bunch.  Cinnamon bears made the dish way too sweet and I admittedly braised the Rabbit just a little too long.  Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but it did not stay on the bone and just did not work up to its potential.