From Creme Fraiche to Ricotta Cheese

(ARA) – Whether you’re looking to liven up your favorite soup, add a creamy twist to a newly-discovered dessert or lighten your grandmother’s old-fashioned pancake batter recipe, look no further than a few simple ingredients that can easily become a part of your culinary line-up.

One of these increasingly popular staples — creme fraiche made with Real California Milk offers an easy, flavorful, special touch to thicken soups, top fresh fruit, make custard creamy or give mashed potatoes more body. Creme fraiche also stays fresh for up to 12 weeks, making it a cost-effective staple to keep in your refrigerator and usable in multiple dishes.

Using creme fraiche as an added ingredient or a substitute to recipes is a surprisingly easy and inexpensive way to pep up many everyday meals, but it’s not the only secret to success. Try using these other dairy products as simple ingredient suggestions to bring out the best in your recipes:

* Fold ricotta cheese into pancake batter to make it lighter and fluffier.
* Drain low-fat yogurt through a coffee filter for a few hours and sweeten with honey for a rich-tasting, low-calorie dessert topping.
* For the most tender fried chicken, marinate overnight in buttermilk before breading.
* Use milk instead of water in bread dough for a sweeter, more tender crumb.
* To thicken sauces without lumps, knead together equal amounts of butter and flour and stir into hot sauce.
* Add a spoonful of heavy cream to scrambled eggs just before they are done to make them extra-rich and creamy.

For more tips and recipes using California dairy products like creme fraiche that carry the Real California Milk seal, check out www.RealCaliforniaMilk.com

To start discovering the unexpected with creme fraiche, try this easy recipe using California creme fraiche:

Baked Pears with Creme Fraiche

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:
3 medium pears, peeled, halved and cored
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon apple pie spice*
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup creme fraiche
2 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted (optional)

Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 350 F. Place pear halves, cut side down, on cutting board. Starting about 1/2-inch from stem end, make 7 lengthwise cuts in each half, cutting to the bottom but leaving pears slices attached at the stem end. Arrange pear halves, cut side down, in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish.

2. In small saucepan, combine sugar, water, apple pie spice and vanilla. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Pour sugar mixture over pears.

3. Bake, covered, 40-45 minutes or until pears are tender, basting occasionally with sauce.

4. Spread two tablespoons crème fraiche onto one side of each of 6 dessert plates; spoon one tablespoon sauce from pears on the other side. With slotted spoon, place pear half in center of each plate; garnish with almonds, if desired. Serve immediately.

*To make apple spice, combine 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice and 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom.

Recipe provided by the California Milk Advisory Board and Bellwether Farms

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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Here are some cooking games you can try at your next girl’s night out or even a couple’s dinner so that you all get to eat homemade food while having fun at the same time.

Cooking in Reverse

This is a popular cooking game as instead of cooking something from a list of ingredients provided to you, you actually have to write down the ingredients from the dish served. You can obviously tell the main things like whether it is chicken with broccoli served with noodles.  But the sauces and seasonings used and how everything was put together can be a challenge. Depending on the skill and interest level of your friends, you can take it up a notch by even asking them to provide the quantity of the ingredients used and giving a prize to the person who ends up being closes to the original recipe.

Mixing Courses

Mixing courses is a fun cooking game because it lets you really think out of the box. It basically means finding innovative ways to serve breakfast staples at dinner and salads instead of dessert. How you whip up pancakes and waffles as a dinner entrée and how you can make your dessert the first thing on the table and a salad the last is up to you. That is what the cooking game is all about. It even gets people thinking of creative ways of incorporating cereal on pizza and orange juice with filet mignon.

Blind Tasting

This is a very old but still popular cooking game and is very simple. You basically blindfold the testers and ask them to guess what they are sampling. Always be sure of allergies anyone may have as you wouldn’t want to ruin your party with someone being rushed to the emergency room as they were allergic to strawberries, peanuts or shellfish. Also, some people may have religious or other dietary restriction such a being a vegetarian so always be sure you know your gests likes and preferences. You could add a fun twist to this by getting a blindfolded friend chew on a jalapeno or some other spicy thing and see him clench his teeth!

The possibilities are endless when you have fun food and friends in the equation. Have fun!

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Cooking can be a chore for some, but if you add a little twist to it, and involve other members of the family, it can be less of a burden for mom and more fun for the kids.

Many mothers hesitate to invite children in the kitchen because they are afraid of it creating an even bigger mess to clean up. However, by involving children, thee are quite a few valuable lessons that you can teach without them even knowing

Healthy Eating Habits

If children are more involved with the cooking and preparation of meals, they have a more up front chance to look and talk about different food groups. You can try a new color vegetable a week or explain the difference between whole grain and white bread or lean cuts of meat and other varieties. You can experiment with cooking lighter versions of their favorite like using skim milk in mac n cheese rather than whole milk and because they helped prepare it, they will never say that it doesn’t taste good.

Cultural Sensitivity

You can also give a social studies lesson in different ethnicities by cooking foods from different parts of the world. If you experiment with cooking Chinese food one day and Mexican specialties the other, you can take it as an opportunity to talk about the geography of that country, and a little about their culture and traditions so that children start looking behind their own comfort zone and begin to accept people even if they look a little different than they do.

Math & Reading

You can sneak in a mini math lesson by letting your children help you measure ingredients. You can test their skills by asking them to half a recipe or double it to make two batches of brownies. Children can practice their reading by reading out recipes aloud and then looking for those ingredients in the pantry or spice drawer.

Safety

You can even teach children about safety when cooking with them as you can explain what kinds of dishes can go in the microwave and what cannot. You can also talk about turning pot handles inwards and always using oven mitts and other safety precautions.

Bonding

Over and above all these lessons, you can use cooking as a family bonding experience and get the children’s input at every stage, from menu planning, grocery shopping, sorting things in a pantry, preparing the meal, serving it – and helping clean up afterwards too!

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Cooking can be a chore for those of us who do it every day and bringing kids in to the equation is only a recipe for confusion and messes. However, this need not be true. Cooking can teach your children invaluable lessons and you never know they might grow up sooner than you think and take over. Just that thought may motivate you to read on.

Confidence and Creativity

As it is often said, confidence is the greatest gift you can give your child. When they help you make something and you give them the credit, you can see them feeling proud of their accomplishment and beaming from side to side. This is a big step in confidence because they feel they were able to create something which everyone is enjoying. Even if they mixed the dry ingredients when you were cooking or baking, the sense of accomplishment that ‘I did it’ is the most important lesson they learn.

Math Skills

While measuring ingredients, you can give them a practical math lesson while cooking with you. Asking them to double the ingredients if you are cooking two batches of soup or halving them if you are just making an appetizer size will help them practice their math skills without having to sit and work on a desk with paper and pens. They will also realize the practical aspect of math and may begin to put two and two together (literally) and like the subject even more when they can see how it is useful in everyday life.

Nutrition Skills

With childhood obesity levels at scary rates in the United States, cooking together is a great way to teach children some facts and figures about healthy eating and nutrition. Explaining how they just need a little olive or canola oil to make their French toast instead of deep frying the bread like there is no tomorrow is just one simple lesson you can impart. Trying out new fresh salads instead of desserts all the time is also setting a good example of healthy eating.

Equality

Equality in the kitchen is another great lesson you can teach by cooking with your kids. By telling your sons from a young age that they can pitch in too and that the kitchen is not only the woman’s domain, you are doing a big favor to is future wife and your next generation. Men who are involved in cooking and cleaning often have more respect for their spouses as they do not underestimate the time and effort it takes to whip up a meal and maintain a home.

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There are many things kids can learn by getting involved with what you’re doing in the kitchen. Aside from the fact that kids love to do big people things, there is a vast wealth of knowledge and life lessons you can pass on when cooking with kids. Many things that your children are going to have to learn someday can be learned while they’re having fun and creating something at the same time.

Health Benefits

Cooking with kids is a great way to get them started on good hygiene and food handling skills. There’s no better way to train them to wash their hands before they handle anything that they’re going to eat. The importance of cleaning up after themselves for health reasons can also be taught in the kitchen. This is also a great opportunity to instruct them about the dangers of various kitchen appliances and utensils. If you take the time to explain what everything is and what it does, they will be less likely to experiment with these things unsupervised. Cooking with kids will also give you a chance to explain proper handling techniques of potentially dangerous utensils, such as knives. These things, as well as safely handling raw meats and fruits will help your child become more responsible in and out of the kitchen.

Cooking with kids will also give you the opportunity to instill healthy eating habits in your child. Teach them about the nutritional benefits of the foods they eat and why it’s important. After this your child may choose to grab an apple once in a while instead of a potato chip.

Educational Benefits

Another good reason for cooking with kids is the educational value. Now that they’re aware of the potential dangers of many of the kitchen items, they can begin to learn how to use them properly. Start out with the basics, like boiling water and things like that. Cooking with kids can also help in the area of mathematics. Have your child help you read the recipes and figure out how much of each ingredient to put in. I can’t think of a better way to help your child learn fractions. Let the child add some of the ingredients and do some of the mixing as well.

There’s also a lot of scientific information you can share when cooking with kids. Things such as the different states of matter and how some things are dissolved in liquids will help your child get a better grasp on the world around them.

Finally, one of the best reasons to consider cooking with kids is that it’s fun for everyone involved. Not only is it a nice educational experience, but it’s a great way to spend quality time with your kids and create some memories that will last a lifetime.

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