Al dente – This term is often used with pasta and literally means “to the tooth/bite”. Boil the pasta until is is tender but still has some “bite”, not soggy and falling apart. Packet pasta usually takes 5-10 minutes in boiling water.

Baste – This term is often used when roasting chicken or cooking meat in a marinade. You will need to regularly “baste” the meat with the juices or sauce to keep it moist. For more details www.tailgating-recipe.com .You can use a spoon to spoon the juices or sauce over the meat or you can use a “baster” which is a bit like a syringe or bulb.

Beat – A term often used in cooking or baking. You may be instructed to beat and egg – simply crack an egg into a bowl and beat (stir rapidly) with a fork or whisk to combine the yolk and white. In cake recipes, you may be instructed to beat the margarine and sugar together – use an electric whisk or beater for ease.

Blanch – A recipe may call for blanching vegetable. This simply means to plunge them into boiling water for about a minute.

Chop – self explanatory but use a good sharp knife and try to chop vegetables etc. so that bits are uniform in size and thickness. Onions often have to be chopped finely so chop them as small as you can.

Cream – Cake recipes often instruct you to cream the butter or margarine with the sugar. Beat them together either with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until they are well combined and the mixture has turned a paler colour.

Dice – If you are instructed to dice meat or vegetables, it means that you should chop into uniform squares.

Fillet – This word can either be used as a noun or a verb. A meat fillet is a good quality piece of meat which has been “filleted”, had the bones removed. If a recipe asks you to fillet a piece of meat or fish, it means you need to remove the bones. This is tricky so buy fillet meat or ask your butcher or fishmonger to do it for you.

Fold – Cake recipes often tell you to fold in the flour after creaming the margarine and sugar and adding eggs. For more details www.apples-recipes.com .Add the flour a bit at a time using a metal spoon and a figure of eight movement to “fold” the flour into the mixture while retaining the air added by creaming or beating.

Julienne – This term is used with vegetables. Julienne carrots are carrots which have been chopped into matchsticks or strips.

Marinate – To coat a piece of meat or fish in a sauce usually overnight or for a few hours in the fridge. The meat will take on the flavours from the sauce.

Pare – Remove the skin from fruit or vegetables.

Peel – Remove the skin from fruit, vegetables or prawns.

Poach – To cook in liquid. Poached eggs are cooked in boiling water and poached fish is often cooked in hot milk.

Puree – To puree a vegetable or fruit is to blend it until it is as smooth as baby food. Use an electric blender.

Saute – You can saute vegetables and this means to fry in hot oil over a high heat for a short amount of time.

Season – To flavour with salt and pepper.

Simmer – This term is often used with sauces or recipes like curry or chilli. It means to bring a sauce to boiling and then turn down to a level where the sauce is bubbling but not boiling.

Stiff peaks – If you are instructed to beat cream or egg whites until stiff peaks are formed, then you need to whisk or beat until the mixture forms peaks which do not collapse and you could even turn the bowl upside down without the mixture immediately falling out.

Stir-fry – To stir-fry is to cook meat and/or vegetables in a wok at a high temperature. Stir-fry packs can be found in supermarkets and all you have to do is fry them briefly in hot oil in a wok, add sauce or spices and serve with noodles or rice.

Whisk – Use an electric whisk or a hand whisk to beat something like cream.

Hopefully these explanations will help you to feel more confident when using recipes.

Want a freshly baked cake, but haven’t got the time for anything too complicated? Here are some easy-to-bake recipes are simple to make and oh so delicious!

Indulge in incredible, simple, rich and mouthwatering cakes that are quick to prepare!

6 MINUTE CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup flour, all-purpose

1 cup sugar

3 Tbs. cocoa, unsweetened

1 Tsp. baking soda

1/2 Tsp. salt

1 Tsp. instant coffee, or espresso

6 Tbs. oil

1 Tbs. vinegar

1 Tsp. vanilla

1 cup cold water, or strong coffee

Directions

Directions: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Then, in a 9×9 cake pan, measure and blend thoroughly with a fork the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, instant coffee powder, and salt.

Next, make 3 indentations in the dry ingredients with your fork. Into the first, pour 6 tb. of oil. Into the second, pour 1 tb. vinegar. Into the third, pour 1 tsp. vanilla.

Then, over all ingredients, pour 1 cup of cold water or strong, cold coffee. Stir with a fork until evenly blended.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

This chocolate cake recipe is very rich and best served alone, with whipped cream, ice cream, or your favorite frosting.

CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE GLAZE

Ingredients

4 ea. Eggs

3 Tbs. Brown sugar, packed

4 Tsp. Vegetable oil

1 Tsp. Vanilla

1 1/3 c. Instant dry milk powder

3/4 c. Whole wheat flour

2 Tsp. Baking soda

2 Tsp. Ground cinnamon

3 c. Grated carrots

1 c. Crushed pineapple, drained

1/4 c. Dark raisins

Directions

Spray an 8 tube pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Combine eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla; beat well. With mixer at low speed beat in milk powder, flour, baking soda and cinnamon until thoroughly combined. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pan and bake 40-45 minutes until cake tests done. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove cake from pan; drizzle with CREAM CHEESE GLAZE.

CHEESE CAKE (NURIT)

Ingredients

MAIN: 500 g Cheese – 5 fat

250 g Cheese – 9 fat

1 c. Leben *

6 Eggs

1 c. Sugar

4 Tbs. Vanilla Instant Pudding

4 Tbs. Corn flour

tb Vanilla Sugar (optional)

TOPPING: 1 c. Cream

Vanilla Instant Pudding (the remnant from above)

Some chocolate -or- Minced nuts (for decoration)

* Sour cream of less than 5% fat

Directions

For this cake recipe, beat the egg whites with the sugar to make a solid foam. Mix the other ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the foam with light movements. Pour into a baking pan of 26 cm diameter. Bake for 10 minutes in a preheated hot oven then lower temperature to medium and leave the cake in for about 45 minutes. When ready (check with a tooth pick) let it cool down for at least 10 minutes in the partly open oven. Beat the cream with the rest of the instant pudding. Put this on the cake in a thin layer. Spread some chocolate crumbs or minced nuts for decoration.