Low Fat Pasta: Why and How to Make it.

Making your own pasta is not difficult. It's actually very easy to cook.

But you may wonder why would you make your own pasta, when you can buy it pre-packed, and ready to cook?

Well, one reason is that by making your own, you eat fresh pasta. There is a difference of taste and texture between fresh pasta and pre-packed pasta.

But there is another reason: if you make your own pasta, you may want to use nutritius ingredients, ensuring that your pasta not only tastes good, but it is also low in fat, and generally good for you.

For instance, you may want to make your own low fat pasta with unrefined flour, ensuring that your pasta is rich in fibre and B complex Vitamins.

Finally, learning to make your own basic pasta dough is the first skill towards preparing other (more advanced?) types of pasta dishes like lasagna, raviolli, tortellini, and that type of thing.

It's not such a difficult thing to do, and it can be a fun process.

You see, normally you make pasta with refined wheat flour, eggs and salt.

But if you want low fat pasta, you need to use water instead of eggs, and you have to give salt a miss.

This recipe makes about 750 g of low fat pasta (about 1.5 pounds), and it takes about 50 minutes to make.

To make your own low fat basic pasta you need:

* 500 g (1 pound) of strong wholemeal flour

* 275 ml (a bit over a cup) of water.

This is what you do:

First, put the flour in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the middle (like a volcano, sort of thing).

Then, pour in the water, and mix with a knife till the dough binds.

After that, you start mixing with your hands and knead it till all the flour is evenly incorporated into the dough.

Move the dough to a kitchen bench, and knead it for about 10 minutes, till it becomes smooth and elastic.

Next, put the dough into a plastic (zip lock) bag and leave it there for about 30 minutes.

Then, take a quarter of the dough and roll it out by hand on a slightly floured surface. Roll it very thin. Leave it to rest and dry before using it.

Freeze whatever you don't use. It will remain good for up to 3 months.

You will be able to use this basic low fat pasta to make many of my delicious recipes.

How to Make Fresh Pasta

Making homemade Fresh Pasta is such an easy task that a child could do it. The rule of thumb is to count 1 whole egg to 3½ ounces flour. The rest is a little salt, olive oil and water as necessary. You could knead and roll the pasta dough with a rolling pin or use a pasta machine. 

This weekend we used the pasta attachments of the Kitchenaid and played around with different shapes and finally agreed on making spaghetti. It turned out beautifully and we let the pasta air dry. Boiled in salted water, it tasted wonderful with pesto.

Ingredients

Yields: 1 pound (4 servings)

½ cup semolina flour
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
3 whole eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon granulated sugar (optional)
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup pesto sauce (click on the link for the recipe)

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Directions

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with sugar (if used) until they're pale; the texture of the eggs will be thicker. Add cayenne pepper (if used).Note: You could also just lightly beat the eggs with a fork.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the semolina and 1½ cups all-purpose flour (the remaining flour is for dusting the pasta so it doesn't stick). Add salt. Form a well and place the egg mixture into the indentation. Form a dough ball and knead the dough until combined. Drizzle with olive oil. Cover with a damp towel, place the bowl in a warm spot and let rest for about 1 hour. 

Divide the dough into 3 portions. The dough should be neither too sticky nor too dry.  Dust a flat work space (or a board) with a generous amount of flour. Roll out each ball with a rolling pin, then pass through a pasta roller machine, using the thickest setting. Dust the pasta sheet with a little flour on both sides to prevent them from sticking to the machine. Repeat 2-3 times. For the last time through, use setting "3" of the Kitchenaid flat roller pasta attachment. Lastly, pass through the spaghetti cutter.

Keep the spaghetti strands separated and dusted with flour; let them air dry for at least 30 minutes before boiling them, hanging the pasta on long chopsticks over large, deep mixing bowls. Note: You could skip this step and let the spaghetti dry on a large tray dusted with flour.

Boil the pasta for 10-15 minutes. Drain, transfer to a mixing bowl, cover with pesto sauce and toss well.

10 Practical Ways to Speed Up Kitchen Cooking

Time is our most valuable resource so it is only natural that we maximize each moment. Have you ever thought about the amount of time it takes to fix breakfast or dinner? Everyone enjoys home cooked goodies and healthy dishes, but surely there must be a few shortcuts that make perfect sense to home chefs. Instead of spending long hours in a kitchen preparing meals you can use these 10 practical tips to cook faster.

1. Save time when you need to peel those garlic cloves. You can just smash the cloves as normal and add them to a clean jar. Then shake the jar vigorously and in seconds the peels will be separated and the garlic is ready to be added to your dish.

2. There are lots of tasty recipes that allow you to cook pasta in the same pan as the sauce. These 1 pot ideas shave a great deal of time compared to regular pasta preparation. As a bonus there are fewer pans to wash.


3. It may seem very obvious but you really need to have a plan in mind before you begin cooking. If you want to speed up the cooking process you should remember that organization plays an important role. Gather all of your ingredients, dishes and kitchen tools so that no time is wasted searching for various items once you begin the meal preparation.


4. Some cooks suggest that you cook potatoes and boiled eggs in the same pot to save time and energy. Just remember that the eggs will be ready much sooner than the spuds. You can even cook potatoes in their jackets, even if you are boiling them. Then you can enjoy the additional vitamins and fiber that are in the potato skins.
   


5. Microwave cooking is extremely fast. Learn to put your microwave oven to good use. Instead of just heating popcorn or coffee this small appliance can be used to defrost food, bake cakes and make candy.

6. Love baked potatoes but don't want to wait for them to cook in the kitchen oven? Begin heating the potatoes in the microwave first. Leave the potatoes in the oven for about 8-10 minutes and then slide those 'taters into the regular oven for an additional 5-10 minutes for ultra-delicious baked goodness that everyone will enjoy.


7. Roasted chicken (or turkey) can be prepared in about 1/2 the regular cooking time. Just use aluminum foil to cover the bird during the majority of the roasting process. This helps the meat cook faster without becoming dry and tough. For a nicely, browned skin you should peel back the foil during the last few minutes of roasting.


8. Parboil veggies that will be used in stir-fry dishes. You can parboil chopped vegetables whenever you have the time and keep them refrigerated in cool water until you are ready to use them in a meal. Then you will only have to heat them briefly as you are cooking.
   


9. Use your leftovers to cook an omelet or create a unique fried rice dish. You can even raid those leftovers and add the ingredients to a frozen pie shell for a healthy, delicious quiche.


10. Make sure that you package those leftovers properly. Refrigerate them or freeze them and you will have instant meals ready whenever you need a quick dish to set on the table.

If you would like to learn some easy ready cooked recipes, be sure to visit here.

Super Foods That Are Easy To Cook And Eat Everyday

Super foods contain many nutrients, are natural and people are encouraged to eat them every day. This term refers to foods that have essential elements in their rightful proportions. If included in your diet, they can boost your family's health tremendously. The beauty with these foods is that they are readily available and affordable but many people are ignorant of their benefits.

Four foods to start including in your daily diet

1. Beans - Beans are very nutritious and as dry foods, they are easy to store. They are protein rich super foods that the family will love. Today, nutritionists recommend that people triple their intake of beans by up to two thirds. That is, if you were cooking beans once a week, you should now cook and take them three times a week. They are not only an affordable meat substitute, but they are also very rich in water and fiber. They make one feel sated for a long time and therefore, they can be used by people who want to lose weight. Since they have very low sugar content, they prevent the blood sugar spiking up and making you feel hungrier. A cup of cooked beans has about 12 grams of fiber and that is just about half the recommended daily intake for a grownup.

2. Dark green leafy vegetables - Kale is the winner here. It has so much fiber and water content. Nutritionists call it the undervalued super food. You can grow your own if you have a garden or you can buy them cheaply at the grocery store. It is also easy to cook since it can be steamed, fried or even taken in your green salad. Kale can be flavored with different herbs to make it tastier and it can be served as an accompaniment to main dishes.

3. Sources of sulphur - Great sources of sulphur include onions, spring onions and garlic. There are many ways to prepare garlic. It can be roasted, baked or fried together with the other foods. It enhances the aroma and the flavor of the food. Note that the smell of garlic can be a bit too strong for the kids, but not if you know a few ways to disguise it. You can use it accompaniment to other herbs like coriander.

Sardines - These small fish are eaten whole. They promote heart health because f their concentration of the omega 3 fatty acids. They are a rich source of vitamin D and thus they promote bone health. Canned sardines can be bought packed in olive or soybean oil while for weight watchers, they can go for those packed in water.

For more tips about cooking visit easy to cook.

The Perks of Using Fresh Pasta

One of the reasons I enrolled myself in cooking lessons is my desire to serve authentic Italian cuisine to my family. We are all lovers of anything Italian, most of all Italian food and as you may expect, our favourite is pasta. However, I found that the best chefs do not use dried or store-bought pasta. So, I went on a mission to learn how to make fresh pasta from scratch. When I was finally cooking dishes with pasta I made with my own hands, I was able to note the benefits of using it fresh instead of dried.

 Here are just some of the perks I discovered in using fresh pasta:

- If you wish for more delicious and lighter pasta, then you will be able to get this from the one you made yourself. Because you can immediately cook your pasta after making it, the effect is you will have lighter pasta that can be cooked in a relatively shorter amount of time compared to the dried one.

Cooking any Italian pasta dish using fresh pasta will also guarantee a better flavour to your recipe. This is because the one you make at home is able to soak the flavours of the sauce better than the dried ones that are much heavier in weight. The lightness of your pasta will enable it to absorb the essence of such ingredients as seafood, meats, cheeses, olive oil and tomatoes, among others.

- Any pasta recipe is made more delicious if you will use pasta water in the sauce. The homemade pasta gives off better liquid for adding to sauces because its flavours, which are still fresh, are able to seep better into the water used in cooking it.

- Pasta made directly in your own kitchen does not have any preservatives added to its ingredients. Because of this, it will definitely be more nutritious and better-tasting.

- Making your own pasta also gives you the ability to choose your own ingredients according to your preferences. You can either make it using Italian durum Semolina or a mixture of semolina and flour. If you have wheat intolerance, you can also use buckwheat as a suitable alternative. The nutty flavour of the pasta made from this ingredient will definitely add a unique twist to your pasta dish.

So, if you are deliberating between using fresh and dried pasta, then you should go for the former. Although it takes a lengthy and time-consuming process to make pasta yourself, this is over-weighed by the many advantages you can get from it. I even took cooking lessons to know how to make my own pasta because I know that they will provide me more perks than disadvantages compared to the store-bought ones I used before.