Old-Fashioned Taffy Pull Party

Want a unique party idea for your child's birthday-or even her next weekend sleepover with friends? Try hosting your own taffy pull. It can get pretty messy, but kids absolutely love it. Just follow these steps to minimize the mess . . . and maximize the fun!

1. Stock up on supplies.

If you don't already own basic candymaking tools, stocking up is pretty easy. You'll need a medium-size saucepan (3 or 4 quarts) with a heavy bottom and straight sides. You'll also need a long-handled wooden spoon, a pastry brush (used to brush off any crystals that might form), and a good candy thermometer with a metal clamp that attaches to the side of your saucepan.

Next, go shopping for taffy ingredients. For the recipe in this article, you'll need to pick up the following: sugar, corn syrup, salt, unsalted butter, flavoring extracts (vanilla, raspberry, and lemon), food coloring (red and yellow work nicely), flour, wax paper, and candy wrappers.

2. Prepare your kitchen.

If you resign yourself to the fact that this party is going to get messy, you'll be in the right mindset to just relax and let the kids have fun. Still, there are a few simple steps you can take to minimize the mess.

First, lay down several painter's cloths, taping the edges to protect every inch of your floor. Next, sprinkle a light layer of flour over the painter's cloths-this will help keep everyone's shoes from sticking to the cloths when the inevitable spills occur. Finally, tape down some wax paper over the table or countertop where you plan to start your taffy pull.

3. Make your favorite taffy recipe.

The process of making taffy can be a little tricky for young ones. I suggest making the taffy yourself, and after the candy has cooled, call in the kids to start the pulling.

Here's a classic recipe for saltwater taffy. Try it!

3/4 cup water
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter
Flavoring and coloring as desired
1 teaspoon salt

Measure 2 cups sugar, l 1/4 cups corn syrup, 3/4 cup water, 1 teaspoon salt into a saucepan and blend well with a wooden spoon. Place over low heat until sugar has dissolved, stirring continuously. Increase the heat and do not stir during the rest of the cooking. Wash the sides of the pan with a brush or fork covered with muslin and dipped in water, using an upward motion. This will prevent the formation of crystals which might cause the candy to sugar. After the syrup boils put in the candy thermometer, and when the thermometer registers 265 degrees, remove candy from heat. Add 2 tablespoons butter and stir very gently. Divide the taffy into three parts; you'll add different flavors and coloring to each one during the pulling process.

4. Prepare the little ones.

First, have everyone wash his or her hands with lots of soap and warm water. Then, let them grease their hands generously with a stick of unsalted butter to prevent the fresh taffy from sticking to fingers. Don't use vegetable oil or margarine for this step-the flavor when mixed with taffy isn't nearly as good as real butter.

5. Let the pulling begin!

Once the taffy has cooled enough to handle, it's time to start pulling. Instruct your partygoers to use only their fingertips to lift the edges of the warm, flowing candy up, and then to pull out about 12 inches. Then, they'll quickly fold the taffy back from the one hand to the other, catching the center, and then pulling again.

If you're adding food coloring and flavoring, pause briefly after a few pulls to add a drop or two to the mixture, folding the mixture over on the color and flavor. Try using raspberry flavor with red coloring, lemon flavor with yellow coloring, and vanilla flavor with no coloring. Continue to pull until the color and flavor are thoroughly mixed in.

6. Wrap it up.

When your taffy is very hard to pull and holds its shape when laid out on a platter, it's ready to cut into pieces. Rub a pair of kitchen scissors with unsalted butter, and then cut the hardened taffy into bite-size pieces. Have the kids wrap the pieces in candy wrappers, twisting each end. (You can also use wax paper or colored plastic wrap.)

Now you can fill small baggies with the taffy, and send each child home with their own homemade party favor!

Baking Bread and Your Freezer

There's a lot of bread in our freezer. In our exuberance, we often bake more bread than we can eat in a day or two. What isn't given away goes in the freezer.

Sometimes, we bake bread just to store. It's wonderful to have homemade bread on hand for those periods when we're just too busy to bake. And it's always a good feeling to have bread on hand for an emergency.

There are three ways to use bread from your freezer. Most commonly, the freezer is raided for that special bread (like Canadian Cheese Bread) for a sandwich or for fresh homemade bread for breakfast toast. To accommodate those raids, we keep lots of sliced bread in the freezer. A slice or two of bread is snapped from the frozen loaf and dropped in the toaster while the remaining loaf goes back to the freezer. As long as you don't mind toasted bread for your sandwich, an array of breads are available for breakfast or sandwiches. This way, each kid gets to choose the bread that he or she wants.

Bread can be removed from the freezer and allowed to thaw on the counter. Use it within a day or so just like you would fresh bread.

Frozen bread can also be reheated and recharged in the oven. Defrost the bread completely on the counter then reheat it in the oven for ten minutes at the same temperature at which it was baked.

The secret for quality bread from your freezer is starting with the freshest loaves possible. If you freeze the bread as soon as it is completely cooled, it will taste as if it came from the oven when thawed.

To freeze bread-sliced or unsliced-place it in a plastic bag with the excess air pressed out. For longer storage, cover the plastic bag with aluminum foil. Since air will slowly migrate through the walls of a plastic bag, plastic alone will work for only a month or two (heavier, freezer-type bags will help). If frozen in foil or freezer wrap, bread can be stored for three or four months and still maintain top quality. Mark all bread going into your freezer with the date and the type of bread to be sure that you can tell the difference between Old Wisconsin Cheddar Bread and Sour Cream Onion Bread.

Place the new loaves behind the loaves already in the freezer to help rotate stocks.

By the way, never refrigerate bread. Bread will stale faster in the refrigerator than on the counter.

Understanding Baking: How Yeast Works

Did you ever wonder why flour tastes like sawdust but a French or Italian bread made with that same flour and little else has a pleasant, sweet taste?

Bread wouldn't be bread without yeast and yeast can't work without sugars. Yeast is alive-living organisms-and living organisms need food for fuel, in this case, simple sugars. But flour is mostly starch and table sugar (sucrose) is too complex for the yeast before fermentation. Amylase and invertase, enzymes present in the flour or created by the yeast, break down the starch molecules into sugars. Some of these simple sugar molecules become food for the yeast; others create the sweet flavor we find in a fine bread-even a French bread where there is no sugar added.

As the yeast feeds on the sugar, it creates two digestive byproducts-alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is what leavens the bread-carbon dioxide gases filter through the dough creating loft. The alcohol is evaporated in baking.

The biological and chemical actions taking place as the bread ages and rises are called fermentation. Generally, a long, slow fermentation makes for better flavor, texture, and moisture retention. Many fine breads call for "retarding" or slowing down the growth of the yeast with refrigeration. If dough is refrigerated, the yeast grows more slowly. Fermentation still takes place as the amylase enzymes work within the dough and sugar is released albeit at a slower rate. When the dough is warmed and the growth of the yeast takes off, there is plenty of sugar present for the yeast and an excess of sugar to sweeten the bread.

When yeast grows more slowly, we find the richer, fuller flavor of breads made with retarded dough. In the previous article, we discussed a focaccia that uses refrigeration to slow down the growth of the yeast and create the desired crumb and flavor. Is it a good bread without retarding? Yes, but retarding does give it desirable flavor overtones and a more open crumb.

10 Simple Ways To Safely Store Food

Storing foods can present its own set of problems. And different types of foods have different storage requirements to prevent bacteria from setting in. Here's some tips to protect your family and yourself.

Storing Vegetables

1. Vegetables should be stored in the vegetable crisper in the refrigerator. However, keep potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, and garlic in a cool, dark, well ventilated place, but not in the refrigerator. Tomatoes have better flavor if they are not refrigerated. Once cut, tomatoes should be refrigerated like any vegetable.

2. Store vegetables in the refrigerator crisper in plastic bags to prevent loss of moisture and nutritional values. However, eggplant and capsicums should be stored open in the crisper as they sweat if stored in plastic bags. Put mushrooms in a paper bag (not in a plastic bag) before placing them in the crisper.

Storing Fruits

3. Apples and berries should always be kept in the refrigerator for maximum crispness. Summer stone fruits and melons should sit at room temperature until they are ripe, then go into the refrigerator. Grapes & fruits that are not yet fully ripe can be left in a fruit bowl in the kitchen.

4. Citrus fruits are fine at room temperature unless it is very hot, in which case, put them in the refrigerator. Bananas should be kept at cool room temperature. Their skins become black if they are refrigerated, although the flesh is still fine to eat.

Storing Dairy Products

5. Always check the expiry date on dairy products, especially milk. Don't buy milk if it will expire in 2-3 days. Milk generally starts giving smell before its expiry date even if you store it in the refrigerator! Generally, milk bottles at the front of the shelf in the supermarket have an expiry date of only a few days. Look for bottles at the back of the shelf.

Storing Frozen Foods

6. Pack all your frozen foods together in an insulated container to keep them frozen until you get home. If foods defrost on the way home and you re-freeze them in a domestic freezer, large ice crystals will form and can rupture cell membranes in the food allowing nutrients to escape. Keep frozen foods frozen to maintain quality, as bacteria will begin to multiply when the food is thawed.

Storing Meat Products

7. Fresh meat, chicken, and fish always carry some bacteria so these foods must always be kept cold. Bacterial growth slows down in the refrigerator; at room temperature, they grow rapidly. Cooking kills these bacteria. Store meat, seafood and chicken in the coldest part of the refrigerator. See that any uncooked products do not come into contact with other foods in the refrigerator. They should be stored at the bottom part of the refrigerator so that any juices that drip out won't contaminate other foods on lower shelves.

8. Make sure that fish or other seafood are wrapped and use as soon as possible. Throw them out if not used within two days.

9. If you are going to freeze meat, seafood or poultry, enclose it in freezer wrap and freeze as soon as possible after bringing it home. Store eggs in the refrigerator, preferably in their cartons, as it provides protection and prevents moisture loss through the shell.

Storing Other Products

10. Do not allow pet foods to come into contact with human foods. Pantry items (canned foods, cereals, etc.) should be stored in a dark place like in a cupboard or pantry. Keep oils out of direct light.

Cooking Lobster at Home

Lobster has always be one of those extravagant meals which few people ever try because of the high cost. With restaurants paying thirty dollars a pound, by the time they put their markup on it, you're easily paying sixty dollars for a ten ounce tail. This high cost leaves lobster dinners for the well-to do or at least only for special occasions. But, this doesn't have to be.

With more and more retail store offering lobster, you can create a romantic dinner for two at a reasonable price. If you buy two eight ounce tails for thirty dollars, that's only fifteen dollars a person. Add a starch and vegetable and it's still cheaper than going out to dinner and having steak or even chicken. Turn the lights down low, add a candle and ship the kid's off to grandma's house.

Cooking lobster is relatively easy. There are hundred's of recipes on the internet or in books. The simplest way is to split the shell down the top, pull the meat out of the shell about 90% of the way and lay it on top of the shell. Place in a pan with a little water and cover with foil (do not let the foil touch the lobster). Cook at 350 degrees until the meat turns white (around 140 F) then baste with butter and season with salt and pepper. As with any food, avoid the temptation to overcook it. When overcooked the lobster meat will become tough and less appealing.

About Lobster

Lobsters are ten legged arthropods, meaning they have no backbone. The lobster creates its skeleton on the outside in the form of a shell with joint appendages. There are two major types of lobster on the market. Maine also called Canadian or American lobster and spiny sometimes call rock lobster.

The Maine lobster inhabits the cold waters of the Atlantic in the area of Canada and the northeast United States. This lobster has two claws, one claw very large and flat, while the other is smaller and thinner. These lobster take up to seven years to reach one pound and average about one to three pounds when harvested. The Maine lobster is sold live or already cooked and usually the meat used in mixed dishes or dishes like lobster thermador

The spiny lobster is a clawless warmwater variety, which are actually large seagoing crayfish. There are 49 species of spiny lobster which swim the world's warm waters. Because the tail is the only real edible part of the spiny lobster, it is usually sold frozen as a lobster tail. The spiny lobster found off Florida, Brazil and the Caribbean are called "warmwater tails", while those found off South Africa, New Zealand and Australia are markets as "coldwater tails". The coldwater variety of spiny lobster is considered superior and favored among restaurants.

Cooking lobster at home can be a delicious alternative to going out. Why not give it a try?

Don?t Poke the Chicken at Your Backyard Barbecue

You might be planning a home remodeling project and it includes an outdoor kitchen. A big part of that plan will be the type of grill you introduce. There are a lot of things to think about and options to research before investing in equipment. I am not a gourmet chef, but I think it is helpful to know what you enjoy grilling the most for your family. Are you carnivores or do you enjoy fish and poultry?

Don't forget about the veggies and fruit. Anything can safely and deliciously be cooked on a grill of your choice so be open to the possibilities. For the brevity, let's concentrate on the meat portion. Beef can be economical if you purchase cheaper cuts such as brisket, but most everyone loves a good steak. Take a good cut of meat, add a little salt and pepper and you're done. You don't have to go in for the fancy flavors of marinade etc. Try ribs on the grill. If you want them falling off the bone I suggest you boil them before grilling. Try your hand at your own barbecue recipe and slather it on. You can easily look like an expert. Have you ever tried making your own burgers out of meat you have ground yourself? There is nothing like it.

If you don't have a meat grinder, you can do a small portion at a time in the food processor. If it's pork you favor there are very few limits as well. If you are working with a large piece of meat, follow the rule of thumb that it should be cooked more slowly. Pulled pork is my favorite with a good barbecue sauce. I live in Wisconsin so a good brat is enjoyed by many. Try grilling brats and cutting them up for a spicy chili soup. It's fantastic. Seafood is quick and can get away from you in a hurry. Shrimp are easy on a skewer or put the fish in a basket so it won't fall apart on you. I have also done filets in a foil with lemon juice and they are great. Chicken have a few cuts for you to grill, just do it more slowly so it won't dry out.

What kinds of tools are best for grilling? Some of the best grilling you will ever have can be done on a "cheap" grill. You have that new outdoor kitchen in mind, but you don't need to spend a fortune unless you want to. You can keep up with the best of them on those fancy monstrosities. Look for something that has ample surface space because you never know when a party is going to happen and you need room to feed a hoard. You do not need the long handled fork because it only pokes holes in the meat and all of the juices drip out. Your meat will be dry and chewy. Use tongs instead so you can easily turn the meat. You might also benefit from a good wire brush for cleaning, a bag of your favorite chips, a thermometer and you're set.

For any style of grill you have, one main point is to keep it clean. You don't want to wow your guest with last week's barbecue that is stuck on the grill plate. A good steel wool will take care of this too. Oil the grates to keep the meat from sticking. This is especially necessary for chicken and fish. You can season your food with a rub or marinade, or just the salt and pepper. Turn the food once and baste it late. Don't forget the non-piercing issue. Try not to peek too much as you will let out steam and the temperature of the grill automatically goes down for lopsided cooking. It can also be dangerous to open the grill too much as the steam is incredibly hot. You might want to store it in the garage for the winter, or at least cover it with a large grill cover. It doesn't matter if your grill purchase is out of a high end catalog or from your local Kmart, just get out there and grill. Before you know it you will be dipping, marinading,rubbing and saucing up a storm. Your friends will wonder why you didn't do this sooner.

Eat your Veggies! Simple Cooking Methods

Vegetables add colour, taste, texture and bulk to our daily diet. There are dozens of different vegetables that can be prepared in literally hundreds of ways. So what's best?

There is no best. The thing to do is to eat your vegetables, lots of them, everyday in a wide variety of ways and stop worrying about the preparation methods. Variety is the key...

Raw

Many vegetables taste fabulous just the way they are straight out of the garden. Lettuce, tomato, celery, cabbage, onion, radish, carrot are obvious choices here. But they are just as likely to find themselves next to chopped up broccoli, cauliflower, peas, beans and zucchini on a starter platter with dips. Wash 'em, chop 'em and eat 'em. Oh, yeah, you could also make a salad!

Steamed

Steaming heats the vegetable and softens it's texture. It's gentler than boiling and allows the vegetable to maintain it's colour if not overdone. Use a stainless steel steamer that will fit into most good size sauce pans. Make sure you use a pan with a tight fitting lid. There should be enough water to just touch the bottom of the steamer. Water should be simmering the whole time the vegetables are being cooked.

Boiling

Boiling vegetables is really going out of fashion, but it's a legitimate preparation method! The big concern is loss of nutrients. All cooking methods result in the loss of some goodness from the vegetables. If boiling, try to find a way to use the water the vegetables have been boiled in (i.e. to make a gravy or sauce) to bring those nutrients back to the table. Vegetables should be barely covered with water. Bring the water to a boil (covered) then slow to a simmer until vegetables are tender.

Microwave

Very popular for vegetables as it retains colour, flavour and nutrients. Trial and error will be your guide with microwaving as there are plenty of variables involved. However, a few guidelines will help...The more food you put into the oven, the longer it will take to cook. Underestimate your cooking time rather than overestimate. Undercooked food can be cooked some more. Over-cooked food is ruined. Food straight from the fridge will take longer to cook than that at room temperature. All food continues to cook after it has been removed from the microwave oven. It is part of the cooking process and should be taken into account to prevent over-cooking.

Stir Fry

Very rapid method of quick frying vegetables, meat (optional) and sauces in one pan to make a meal. Primarily associated with Asian cooking. The key to doing this well is preparation. All items to be cooked should be chopped to a size that will allow them to cook quickly in the wok. It is also important that the wok is heated to a high, consistent temperature throughout. Vegetables maintain their colour and crispness with this sort of cooking (if not overdone).

Baking

Brilliant! Especially for those 'root' vegetables like potatoes, turnip, carrot and beetroot. Chop into similar size pieces, brush lightly with olive oil and put in a hot oven to roast. Size of the pieces will determine the cooking time but expect at least 40 minutes. Outside is chewy, inside is moist and fluffy. Dress with sour cream and chives. Yum!

Barbeque

Does anything scream summer like the word barbeque? Love a barbeque. This is primarily open flame cooking, so could apply to a campfire as well. Cooking outside just changes everything about food. You'll need foil, fire and fresh veggies. Grease your foil, chop your veggies and put the closed packages on the grill. Be adventurous, it's really hard to mess this up!