Our Kitchenroundtable.net

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Equivalent Measures

Posted by Darlene on 11/23/2000, 10:52 pm

Dash = Less than 1/8 teaspoon
3 teaspoons (tsp.) = 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons (Tbsp.) = 1 fluid ounce (oz.)
4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup
5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon = 1/3 cup
16 tablespoons = 1 cup
1 cup = 8 fluid ounces
2 cups = 1 pint (16 fluid ounces)
4 cups = 1 quart (32 fluid ounces)
4 quarts = 1 gallon (128 fluid ounces)
1 pound (lb.) = 16 ounces (dry measure)

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Quick Reference For Using Your Micro Wave Oven

Posted by Darlene on 11/23/2000, 10:56 pm

*100% = 700 watts
50% = 350 watts
For larger quantities of food, increase cooking time.

Item Power* Time
Baby food, warming 50% 1/2 to 1 1/2 min./4 1/2-oz. jar, uncovered
Bacon 100% 1 to 1 1/2 min./1 slice between paper towels
Beef, ground 100% 5 to 6 min./1 lb., crumbled; stir after 3 min.
Bread cubes, drying 100% 2 to 3 min./2 cups of 1/2 -inch cubes in single layer
Brown sugar, softening 100% 30 to 60 sec./1 cup, covered
Butter/margarine, melting 100% 45 to 60 sec./1/2 cup
Butter/margarine, softening 100% 10 to 15 sec./1/2 cup 50% 30 to 45 sec./1/2 cup
Chocolate, melting 100% 1 to 2 min./1 oz. square 50% 3 to 4 min./1 oz. square
Chocolate chips, melting 100% 1 to 2 min./1/2 cup; stir every min.
Coconut, toasting 100% 2 to 3 min./1/3 cup with 2 tsp. butter; stir every 30 sec.
Cream cheese, softening 50% 30 to 60 sec./8-oz. pkg., unwrapped
Dried fruit, softening 100% 1 to 1 1/2 min./1 cup with 2 Tbsp. water; cover and let stand 2 to 3 min.
Egg, scrambled 50% 1 to 1 1/2 min./1 egg in small oiled bowl; stir after 30 sec.
Frankfurter in bun 100% 20 to 30 sec./1 frankfurter and bun wrapped in paper towel
Ice cream, softening 50% 30 to 60 sec./1/2 gal.
Ice cream topping, warming 50% 1 to 1 1/2 min./1 cup, uncovered
Milk, heating 100% 1 to 2 min./1 cup in 2-cup measuring cup
Nuts, toasting 100% 4 to 5 min./1/2 cup plain or with 1 Tbsp. butter; stir every min.
Potatoes, baking 100% 6 to 8 min./1 lb., pierce before baking; cover and let stand 5 to 10 min.
Rolls, warming 100% 10 to 15 sec./1 roll wrapped in paper towel
Soup, heating 100% 1 1/2 to 2 min./1 cup
Syrup, maple, warming 50% 1 to 2 min./1 cup in glass pitcher
Tortillas, corn, softening 100% 1 min./6 wrapped in damp cloth towel
Tortillas, flour, warming 100% 10 sec./1 wrapped in paper towel
Vegetables, frozen 100% 5 to 8 min./10-oz. pkg.; stir after half of time
Water, boiling 100% 2 to 3 min./1 cup

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What to do if your cake won’t hold together:

Cookin' Dad posted 09-19-2000 08:36 AM

While I'm definitely not a cooking expert, I would say the inability of your cake to hold together has more to do with the fact that the cake mix you used has a lower gluten content. If you used all purpose flour, you would probably not have the problem. If you use the cake mix again, I would probably add an extra egg. The texture will be slightly heavier, but the cake should hold together. Lastly, if you don't add the extra egg, substituting the sour cream for whipping cream would also probably do the trick. Good luck!

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Types of Milk

Posted By: Nobody Date: Saturday, 11 November 2000, at 4:02 p.m.

1. Evaporated milk - half the water is removed (so it is twice as "milky", if you want to think about it that way! It does have about double the calories.)
2. Condensed milk - also has part of the water taken out. Sugar is added (I am almost certain that this is done in a cooked process).
3. Powdered milk - ALL the liquid is taken out. Most often the fat has been removed prior to drying/dehydrating - so most powdered milk (but not all) is lowfat.

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Tips for Strawberry cake filling

posted By: Jen in Ca. Date: Tuesday, 24 October 2000, at 4:14 p.m.

What kind of filling are you looking for? One with fresh fruit or more of puree type of filling or maybe even a strawberry custard type?

First rule of thumb is that for every one cup of berries, you need 3 teaspoons of liquid to make enough of a puree to spread. Also, you can take frozen strawberries and combine them with almost any frosting or dream whip type substance and make a filling. Custard mixed with seedless strawberry jam (NOT jelly) works great too. Even plain old jam works well. Give me a better idea what you want the final outcome to look like (and taste like, lol) and I will try make up a specific recipe for you.

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Tip for Mini-PB Cups

posted By: Judi Date: Thursday, 31 August 2000, at 1:42 p.m.

I used to "teach" how to make PB cups in a Youth Program. I had the students freeze their mini muffin tins while we made the filling. I then had them roll the filling into pecan sized balls and freeze them as well. Finally we could concentrate on the coating, which set up well in the paper liners because the pan was so cold - and they placed the little filling "egg" on top and added the chocolate coating. The frozen egg thawed a little, and the coating set up fast. Just right for third-grader patience levels.

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About fluffly rice

Posted By: Chef Steve Date: Saturday, 26 August 2000, at 9:44 a.m.

The first thing about making fluffy rice is that you use 1 part rice to 2 parts liquid and when it is finished cooking Do Not Stir It With A Spoon Use A Fork.

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Cake & Icing Tip

Posted By: KAnn Date: Thursday, 22 February 2001, at 4:46 a.m.

If you like cream cheese Add an 8 oz. pkg. (softened) to the frosting. Cream it first before adding other ingredients. Besides the good flavor of cream cheese, the frosting will have more body and hold up better.

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Ripening home made ice cream

Posted by Darlene on 5/30/2000, 3:46 pm

If you plan to serve your ice cream immediately after churning, freeze it hard. This may not be possible with electric freezers that shut off automatically when the mixture becomes thick. In that case, ripening will firm the ice cream and develop the desired smooth texture. To ripen, pour off the salt water from the freezer bucket, wipe the container and remove the lid and dasher. Scrape the cream from the dasher and down from the sides of the container. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream to help prevent ice crystal formation. Plug the hole in the lid and cover the container. Repack the bucket with ice and salt. Cover the bucket with wet newspapers, heavy towels or other insulating material. Let it stand from 2 to 4 hours. To save the ice cream for future use, pack it into containers and store at 0F for up to 1 month.

Sherbets, ices and frozen yogurts (see chapter 2) can also be churned in an ice cream freezer. Follow the manufacturer's directions and ripen if desired.

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Color Chart for Painted Eggs

Posted By: azlinda Date: Monday, 18 March 2002, at 1:05 p.m.

Lime - 24 yellow, 4 green
Purple - 15 blue, 5 red
Cantaloupe - 24 yellow, 2 red
Jade - 17 green, 3 blue
Plum - 10 red, 4 blue
Spearmint - 12 green, 6 yellow, 2 blue
Raspberry - 14 red, 6 blue
Maize - 24 yellow, 1 red
Watermelon - 25 red, 2 blue
Teal - 15 green, 5 blue
Grape - 17 blue, 3 red
Fuchsia - 18 red, 2 blue
Orange Sunset - 17 yellow, 3 red
Jungle Green - 14 green, 6 yellow

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Tip: Keep Whipping Cream Stiff

Posted By: dj Date: Thursday, 24 February 2000, at 6:35 p.m.

I add about 2 tb of instant vanilla pudding mix with 1 cup of whipping cream to keep whipped cream stiff. It is important to use the instant variety of pudding. Add the pudding as you are whipping the cream.

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What to do with Leftover Royal Icing

Posted By: dj Date: Thursday, 24 February 2000, at 6:35 p.m.

Royal Icing is used for decorations on candies or delicate flowers, etc. for cakes.

MAKE PUDDLE FACES. Consistency needs tbe medium - go flat in the bowl after being dropped at a slow count of 10. Make a puffy circle about the size of a penny using tip 3. Fill up a sheet of wax paper taped to cardboard with these in flesh color and then go back and in the center of each puddle put another very small dot. It will look like a whole sheet of tiny titties. But these are the noses for tiny faces Draw eyes and tiny mouth with non-toxic pen and use for centers of daises, Santa faces and anything else you can think of. We usually do around 1000 Santa's on candy canes a year and these are the faces.

SILLY SANTA'S are made of Royal too. We have a picture on my web site at: ://w3.one.net/~proicer/index.html

Another use - I pipe most of my Royal roses on toothpicks. The first step is tmake a bag of royal with a no. 5 tip and insert a toothpick about 1/2 and squeeze as you pull it out. Let these dry and then pipe the 127 roses on these bases. Wrap the toothpick in with florist tape and pipe a little buttercream icing on the back and they will stay securely on the side of the cake

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