101 Gift Ideas For People Who Love To Cook

Cooking with your kids is not only a great way to bond and spend quality time, but it teaches them about food, cooking skills, and eating right. Cooking is becoming a lost art in the home. Too many people either make quick meals on the run for their kids, sue to hectic schedules, or eat take-out or fast food. Teaching your kids to eat a balanced meal early is a wonderful gift. You kids will learn a great skill in cooking as well as learn to understand and respect food, health and create memories for a life time.

I still remember my Grandmother cooking. She was amazing, and her food more so. I was quite young and we only saw her on holidays, but I wish I had taken the time or she had, to teach me her amazing skills. My mother did spend a lot of time cooking and teaching us to cook. Cooking with kids creates a bond and memories that are a lasting legacy. Teach them some recipes from your childhood. Share the culture of their family through cuisine.

Macaroni and Cheese with Ham

Ingredients
Salt (for pasta water)
1 pound short cut pasta (any kind)
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 cups whole milk
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup shredded Gruyere (can substitute if you think your kids won't like)
1 cup shredded white sharp Cheddar
1/4 pound ham, deli sliced, finely chopped (Kids Like Honey Ham)

Directions
Heat a large pot of salted water to a boil, drop in pasta. Cook pasta to just shy of al dente (7-10 minutes, depending on pasta shape).

Heat sauce pot with butter over medium heat, whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute, whisk in stock then milk, allow the sauce to thicken, and season with salt. Stir in cheeses in a figure eight motion. Stir in ham and remove the sauce from heat. Drain pasta and combine with sauce.

You could also add some steamed broccoli or diced tomatoes to add a veggie to the dish.

I believe that cooking and family recipes are like family heirlooms. Some of the recipes my mom cooks, and taught us to cook, come from generations ago in Austria. My Grandmother was a terrific cook, and my mother is too. Every time my Mom comes to visit she cooks every meal, and we usually help. She has a host of recipes that she has made forever, but she is also always finding new recipes too. She enjoys cooking with fresh ingredients and always has a salad with diner. It is great to instill these eating traits and habits in a family.

Family recipes handed down from generation to generation create memories and a bond in a family that lasts forever. Think of the holiday baking and cooking your family did or still does? Think of all the memories from those smells, tastes and times. Cooking together is a great way to connect, re-connect and enjoy time together. The cookies my mom makes for the holidays are from a recipe so old, I am not sure even she knows how far back int he family they go. By today's standards they are quite unusual, they take quite a bit of time to make and a lot of people, used to the overly sweet cookies made today, may not be able to appreciate them, but we love them, and fight over them every year.

Thanks Mom and Grandmother for all the great food and memories!!!

Coconut water can be used (in emergencies) as a substitute for blood plasma
Due to the sterility and ideal PH of coconut water it can be used as a substitute for blood plasma. The coconut water is the liquid found inside the coconut, not the milk made from coconut flesh.

Worcestershire sauce is essentially dissolved anchovies
The anchovies are soaked in vinegar until they have totally dissolved. The sauce contains the whole fish including bones.

The Bakers Dozen
Bakers used to be fined if their loaves were under weight, so they used to add an extra loaf to every dozen, just in case -- hence, the expression "baker's dozen".

Garlic was worshipped by the Egyptians They fed it to workers building the Great Pyramid at Giza, about 2600 BC.

Three quarters of fish caught are eaten The rest is used to make things such as glue, soap, margarine and fertilizer.

Bananas: Spotted is Better Bananas that are overripe or freckled are sweeter, with a sugar content of more than 20%, compared with 3% in a green banana.

Meat production causes 1/5 of global greenhouse gases.

China uses 45 billion chopsticks per year. 25 million trees are chopped down to make them. (yikes, makes you want to say "NO" to those take-out chop sticks)

I am totally addicted to the Food Network. I can sit there and watch it for hours, my husband just shakes his head. Sometime he says, "If you watch so much Food Network, why don't you cook more gormet meals?" SMACK!!! Why do you think I am watching?

I do learn a lot from just watching, and my cooking has improved, unfortunately, sassy husband has the palette of a three year old, so a lot of the things I would like to make he would not eat. I actually use the excuse, I hate my kitchen a lot, which I do, but I also have been on a budget lately, and Ahi Tuna on the Grill is not exactly in the budget.

But, summer is here in Arizona and it is hot as H-E-double hockey sticks, so I am doing a lot of salads. Giada's Tuna, Potato salad above is great for summer. It is filling and light, and cold. But my husband, like I said, only likes Ranch dressing, so I have to add the dressing separately. I am working on his palette, he still runs screaming from the room whenever I break out the balsamic vinegar. Giada has a great recipe for pasta with Balsamic Brown Butter, it is awesome, simple and easy. I make it whenever picky goes fishing. He is getting a bit better though, I just have to find things that he already likes and dress them up. He is slowly getting more adventurous.

So anyway, I digressed a bit there, I would watch The Food Network if you want to learn some great cooking techniques and recipes. The website is great for finding recipes and cooking items as well. My favorites to watch are:
Rachel Ray - 30 Minute Meals
Giada - Everyday Italian/Giada at Home
Ina Garten- Barefoot Contessa
Bobby Flay - Boy Meets Grill
Michael Chiarello - Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello
Ellie Krieger - Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger
Jamie Oliver - Jamie at Home
Nigella Lawson - Nigella Express/Nigella Feasts
Tyler Florence - Tyler's Ultimate

There are many more, but these are my favorites! Check they out, I hope you enjoy!

Lobster Macaroni and Cheese
Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients
salt
Vegetable oil
1 pound elbow macaroni
1 quart milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (4 cups)
8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 pounds cooked lobster meat
1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the pasta and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

While pasta cooks, heat the milk in a small saucepan, don't let it boil. In a large pot, melt 6 tablespoons of butter and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. Still whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, 1 tablespoon salt, the pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and lobster and stir well. Place the mixture in 6 to 8 individual gratin dishes.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and browned on top.

Okay, meatloaf is not a pound of ground beef smooshed into a bread loaf pan and baked until, greasy and the consistency and flavor of old leather. Meatloaf prepared right can be a great comfort food. Here is a quick, easy recipe!

Meatloaf Muffins with Barbecue Sauce (can be made as one large as well)
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

Ingredients
1 2/3 to 1 3/4 pounds ground sirloin
1 medium onion, cut into chunks
2 ribs celery from the heart of the stalk, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 green bell pepper
1 large egg plus a splash of milk, beaten
1 cup plain bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)
1 cup smoky barbecue sauce
1/2 cup tomato salsa
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Vegetable oil or extra-virgin olive oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Put ground beef into a big bowl. Put onion and celery into a food processor. Cut the bell pepper in half, rip out the seeds and throw them into your garbage bowl. Cut the pepper into a few pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse the processor blades to finely chop the vegetables into very small pieces then add them to the meat bowl. Add egg, beaten with milk, bread crumbs and grill seasoning to the bowl. Next, mix together the smoky barbecue sauce, the salsa and the Worcestershire sauce. Pour half the sauce mixture into the bowl with the meatloaf mix. Mix the meatloaf together with your hands. Wash up. Brush a 12-muffin tin (1/2-cup each) with vegetable oil or extra-virgin olive oil. Use an ice cream scoop to help you fill meat into a each tin. Top each meat loaf with a spoonful of extra sauce. Bake about 20 minutes. Cut open 1 muffin to test that the middle is cooked through.