Over Stove Microwave Oven

Are you often rushed in the evenings? Finding it hard to get dinner on the table and still have time for the important things in life? A few easy quick recipes, combined with a little planning will make cooking dinner a pleasure again.

Over Stove Microwave Oven

Look for recipes that are simple –with minimum preparation, then let your oven or slow cooker do the work. This recipe features an easy preparation, then cooks quickly in only 20 minutes in the oven while you fix a salad and warm some dinner rolls. Baked Ham Steak with Pineapple is an old favorite that can easily and quickly solve tonight’s dinner crisis.

You will find these pre-sliced ham steaks vacuum packed in the meat department of your grocery. Sizes range from 1 to 2 pounds. This recipe calls for 1 1/2 pound, but choose a steak that will serve your family. If it is much smaller, then cook for a little less time. This serves 4 generously.

Baked Ham Steak with Pineapple

1 1/2 pound ham steak

1 can pineapple rings

brown sugar

cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Trim off or slice through the fat on the edge of the ham in several places to prevent curling in the pan.

3. Place the ham steak in a shallow ovenproof pan and place the pineapple slices on top. Pour the pineapple juice over all.

4. Place the ham steak in the oven and bake for 20 minutes (uncovered).

5. After 20 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and turn the oven up to broil.

6. Baste the ham with the pan juices. Sprinkle a little brown sugar over the pineapple slices and dust with cinnamon.

7. Return to oven and broil for 3 to 5 minutes or until the pineapple is lightly browned. Serve each ham steak with a pineapple slice.

Serve with a tossed salad and dinner rolls for an easy quick dinner recipe solution. I hope that this menu will find its way onto your table soon.

An Easy, Quick Recipe – Baked Ham Steak With Pineapple

Competing in a bodybuilding competition is an exciting, exhilarating and fulfilling experience. It takes determination, dedication and just plain hard work. And, unless you plan on becoming a professional, all you can hope for from all of your effort is a trophy.

Over Stove Microwave Oven

Ah, but what a trophy!

When you stand on stage, holding a rigid “relaxed” pose and hear the announcer call your name as Champion in your Class or Winner of the Overall Competition, it’s mighty sweet. You savor the moment and forget all about what it took to get there.

Deciding to Compete

If you are in reasonably good shape and work out regularly, at least four-times-per-week, you can be prepared to enter your first contest within a year. I trained five-days-a-week for 10 months to get ready for my first contest.

You need that much time in order to gain the lean mass your body needs to sustain itself as you enter the fat-burning/cutting phase of your diet, about 13 weeks before your contest. If you want to compete as a Middle Weight, (165 – 185 lbs.), for instance, you might need to be around 195-200 lbs before you begin your cutting phase. The reason is simple. When you go into the cutting phase, your body loses about one pound of muscle for every three pounds of fat. For my first contest, I weighed 154 lbs on January 1st. When I stepped onto the stage on March 19th, I weighed a ripped 136. I was the lightest Bantam Weight. In fact, I was too light. The Bantam Weight limit is 143 lbs. Off season, I will bulk up with lean mass to about 165 lbs and try to come in at around 142.5, near the top of the weight class for next year’s competitions.

So, the first thing you need to do, after deciding to enter a contest, is to pick a contest 10 – 12 months in the future and decide in which weight class you want to compete. Then, see where you are now and where you need to be on contest day. At that point, you can plan your diet.

To make sure this is something you really want to do though, you should attend a bodybuilding competition in your area. It’s the best place to learn about the sport. You can pick out who is really ready to compete and who needs to do more work. Depending on whether you go to a drug-tested show or non-tested show, you will also see how huge some of the men, and even some of the women, who use steroids and other illegal muscle enhancers look. You can decide if that’s the direction you want to go or not.

Competition Diet

Once you decide you want to compete, you must make a complete change in your life style. Bodybuilding is a life-style sport, much like ice skating, marathon running, competitive snowboarding, etc. Bodybuilding takes a lot of time in the gym and a lot of time in the kitchen. Competitive bodybuilders build their lives around their workouts and their meals, which during daylight hours average once every two-and-one-half-hours. It’s also expensive, calling for large amounts of protein each day, at least one gram for each pound of body weight. Here is a typical diet for a bodybuilder who is trying to put on lean mass several months before a competition:

Breakfast: Three egg whites (protein) and one whole egg + one cup of oatmeal

Mid-morning: Protein shake (two scoops) in 8-12 oz of water

Lunch: 8 oz of steak, or chicken, or fish + 8 oz of sweet potato + cup of vegetables

Mid-Afternoon: Protein shake (two scoops) in 8-12 oz of water

Dinner: 8 oz of steak, or chicken, or fish + two cups of vegetables

Throughout the day, you need to drink between 1/2 and one gallon of spring water.

This diet is designed to put on about a pound of lean mass a week. Lots of protein, lots of carbs and little fat.

I’ll talk about how the diet changes as you get closer to your competition later.

Supplements

I said earlier, bodybuilding is an expensive sport. It’s not as expensive as a Bass Boat with all the accessories, but it’s close.

In order to help your body use the fuel you put in (food and drink) and to take advantage of your workouts to build muscle, you need a good supply of supplements. I won’t go into brand names or lead you to any supplier, but, here are some of the supplements you should consider:

Protein Powder: Check the labels. Some are designed as meal replacements, some for lean muscle mass gain, others for general growth, some for fat loss and some for heavy-duty muscle building. One caution, check the labels for additives.

Glutamine: Increases muscular growth, offers a muscle pump while training, helps retain lean muscle tissue, reduces muscle soreness, helps increase fat loss.

Creatine: Allows you to train harder with greater intensity and recover faster. It aids in increasing your weights and number of reps and reduces your rest between sets. Great energy boost.

Flaxseed/Fish Oil: Fat is necessary in your daily diet for the manufacture of hormones, proper brain function and joint lubrication. Eliminate fats completely and your muscles shrink dramatically, and your energy and strength levels go with them. Enter Flaxseed and Fish Oil. Usually in capsule form. They act as solvents to remove hardened fat, support muscle growth and fat metabolism.

Multi-vitamins: Everyone’s vitamin needs are different. Hard-training athletes need more vitamins and minerals. Getting the right amount of vitamins and minerals is equal in importance to protein and carbohydrates.

There are lots of other supplements on the market today. But, if you use these five, along with good workouts and proper diet, you are going to achieve the growth you desire.

Training

Your competition training regimen will have three phases. The first, while you are adding lean mass for muscle building, you will workout with heavier weights and lower reps. During the second or gradual (13 weeks) fat burning/cutting phase, you will work out with lighter weights and higher reps. And, during your final two weeks of training before a show, you will use light weights and only “pump up” your muscles during your workouts. During your bulking up stage, you do moderate cardio. During your cutting for competition phase, you do max cardio and during the last two weeks, moderate to no cardio. I’ll talk more about the last two weeks later.

During my ten months of training for my first two competitions, I used the following workout plan:

Monday (45 Minutes) – Back & Biceps + 20 Minutes of Cardio

Tuesday (45 Minutes) – Legs & Calves + 20 Minutes of Posing

Wednesday (45 Minutes) – Chest & Triceps + 20 Minutes of Cardio

Thursday (45 Minutes) – Legs & Calves + 20 Minutes of Posing

Friday (45 Minutes) – Shoulders & Biceps + 20 Minutes of Cardio

Saturday (45 Minutes) – Posing (Video Session)

Each week I tried to mix up my workout routine so my muscle groups stayed “surprised” and didn’t let my muscles get used to a fixed routine. I mixed machines with dumbbells and never did the same thing twice in a row.

I had great results with this training regimen. When I started, I weighed about 158 lbs. with about 14% body fat. Ten months later, when I stepped onto the stage at my first competition, I was 136 lbs. with 4.5% body fat. At my second competition, two weeks later, I was about 136 with 4% body fat. One ripped, competitive, dude!

Posing

Posing is one of the more important elements of bodybuilding and one that in many cases is neglected. A competitor with a well-muscled and cut body can lose to a competitor with less muscle who is better able to show the judges what he or she has.

I’m not going to get into individual poses in this article. There are many sources available on the web, in books, magazines and videos that demonstrate the various poses. Rather, I will talk about the “psychology” of posing and the importance of posing practice.

While you will hear the head judge repeatedly call out, “Relax!” between poses, there is no such thing as being “Relaxed” during a competition. From the moment you step onto the stage you are being judged, and every muscle in your body must remain flexed. Every pose is built from the legs up. If you are doing a side chest and your legs are not flexed, your upper body will look great while your legs and calves will look flat. You will lose points. In bodybuilding, the judges are looking for your flaws. As a bodybuilder, you are looking to hide those flaws. It’s a cat-and-mouse game. As a 67 year-old competitor, I have a little extra skin around my midsection. I can’t get rid of it no matter how much I diet or how many hundreds of crunches I do. So, to hide my “extra skin”, I lean back a little during my poses to tighten up the area. And, when doing the last pose of the round, the Most Muscular, I place my hands together, in front of my abs, which shows my upper body cuts while “hiding” part of my midsection.

If you think about it, all the training you do to get ready for a competition is laid out on the table during the 10 minutes you are on stage for your Class. It would be a shame to see all that hard work go to waste because you didn’t pose well. Posing practice must become part of your workout schedule during the entire time you are training. I work out 45 minutes-a-day, five-days a week. I do cardio for at least 20 minutes, three or four-days a week. I pose at least ½ hour a night, two evenings a week, and pose for 45 minutes with a video recorder on Saturday morning. The last week before a contest, I practice posing every evening.

Posing is hard work. If you aren’t exhausted after being on stage for six – 10 minutes going through your “relaxed” round and mandatory round, you haven’t posed hard enough. One helpful hint: some competitors begin taking potassium tablets about a week before your competition. By doing that, you will prevent cramping, which if it occurs on stage, can be a killer.

Every competitor, as part of the competition, must choreograph a 60 or 90 second routine set to you own music. While most of the time, the individual posing routine is not counted in your overall score, it sometimes is used as a tie-breaker or to place a person second or third, if it’s close. Nevertheless, your posing routine should be entertaining, lively and should show off your best body parts to their fullest. Try to pick music that is familiar. Make a CD and have two copies with you at your competition. Never do anything gross or that shows bad taste. Bodybuilding is a family-oriented spectator sport. A vulgar performance can get you disqualified from a competition. During the 60 or 90 seconds, you don’t have to show every pose in the book. Do between eight and 10, with graceful movements between poses. It’s OK to move about the stage while you perform your routine. In some cases, it’s permitted to use props. Check with you organizer.

Posing in a competition is a lot of work and a lot of fun. If you have practiced enough, you will pose well and you will look confident. You might still shake a little and you might get a case of dry-mouth, but if you know your poses and are confident, you can deal with it. The individual posing routine is your chance to have the judges and audiences see you at your best, without any other competitors to distract them from you.

One final tip. SMILE while you pose. Don’t make faces or show strain. You are in control. Have fun.

Tanning

There is an old bodybuilding saying, “If you think your tan is dark enough, put on two more coats.”

Great advice. Tanning for a bodybuilding competition is different than tanning for the prom or before you go to the beach or to a modeling job. While posing on stage during a bodybuilding competition, your cuts and muscularity must show up well against the very bright stage lights. You look your best if you are very, very dark. You look washed out and flat if your tan is not dark enough.

There are lots of ways to tan. Some are inexpensive and some are very expensive. Lets talk first about the least expensive way. The sun. It’s free and easy to use. But there are drawbacks. First, you can’t always depend on the sun being “out” when you need it. Second, it takes longer to tan in the sun than it does to tan using other means. Third, you can burn in the sun and cause peeling, which, on stage would be a disaster. And, finally, unless you know of a nude beach or have access to a private deck, you will develop tan lines that may show up on stage when you wear your posing suit.

The most reliable tan is achieved over time by visiting a good tanning salon. By good, I mean one that changes their bulbs frequently and is clean and well organized. I wouldn’t go to a tanning salon located in the rear of a coin-operated laundry (they do exist). If you want to keep a good healthy tan throughout the year, you should purchase a tanning package of minutes or unlimited sessions and try to go twice a week. By doing that, you won’t have as much “white” to cover up as you make your final preparations for your competition. And, in order to keep you skin healthy and smooth, you should apply a good tanning bed oil before each session and a good moisturizer after tanning. Both of those products are available for sale at the salons.

Once you have a decent base tan, one where people ask you in the middle of the winter, “Where have you been?”, maintain that color until it’s time for your contest.

During the final week, while your body is carb robbed and your brain is a lump of mush, you must think about applying enough tanning color to be “right-on” for the stage.

Again, there are a couple of ways to achieve this impossible task while the rest of your world is in a pre-contest daze. One way to apply self-tanning products and the other is to be professionally sprayed.

The bodybuilding industry has several products that guarantee a competition-quality tan, applied in coats, two to three days before your show. And, they offer several products to enhance the “look,” including competition bronzers, contest finishers, hair removal products (we’ll talk about that later), instant tanners, etc. All of them work, some better than others. One company is ProTan ( http://www.protanusa.com ), another is Dream Tan, featured on many bodybuilding websites. Since they are oil-based, most of the self-application products never really dry on your skin and you wind up leaving a trail whenever you touch or rub up against something.

The most expensive, but most effective way to tan for a contest is to be sprayed professionally two or three times the week of your contest. Most larger tanning salons have a spraying room where you strip down to your posing suit, pulling it up to how you will wear it on stage and let the attendant apply a generous spray-coat of dark color. You will notice instantly that you are darker than you were when you walked in with your base tan. If you are really dark to begin with, you can get away with two coats over two days. Three coats over three days will guarantee you will be dark enough. The sprays dry on your skin and last up to four days before beginning to fade, and they can be washed off in the shower on Saturday night after your competition. But, during the competition, you will not have to worry about being dark enough.

No matter if you decide to do it yourself or have it done professionally, just be aware that your tan will help determine your standing in your competition. Give it the attention it deserves.

Grooming

During a bodybuilding competition, the audience and judges are looking at you while you are standing on stage wearing nothing more than a skimpy posing suit. You are trying to show off your physique and grooming is a very important part of your appearance. If you are not well-groomed, it will take away from your overall look. In the last section, I covered tanning. Here I will cover hair. In short, other than the hair on your head, you have to get rid of it. A male bodybuilder cannot have chest hair, underarm hair or leg hair. Women need to rid themselves of all underarm and leg hair. Unless your hair is very fine, you will also need to get rid of arm hair, toe hair, and hand and finger hair. And, where there is hair under your posing suit, it has to not show, period.

Start you final week of contest preparation by getting a good haircut or styling. You should do this before you begin your final tanning prep, since you will want to tan any area that was covered by hair before it was cut. For a Saturday contest, I recommend you cut your hair by Tuesday.

Removing the rest of your body hair can be tedious. There are several ways to remove hair. The most expensive and most permanent is laser hair removal. It can take several sessions and cost hundreds of dollars but it very effective if you want your hair removed permanently. More temporary and far less expensive is using hair removal products. Usually found in the women’s products section of drug stores, the most popular are Nair and Sally Hansen. A bottle of lotion costs around .50 and is usually enough to take care of your contest needs. It takes about five minutes to apply, four minutes of waiting and then a shower to remove the lotion and hair. After drying, you should apply a light coating of moisturizing cream over the area where you removed the hair. Hair removal products usually keep the hair away for a week, plenty of time for your contest.

If you don’t want to use a hair removal product, another way to remove hair is to shave it off. Use a fresh razor and plenty of soap or cream and go slowly to prevent nicks and cuts. Sometimes, shaving will leave a rash or stubs of hair that could show up under the bright lights on stage. If I am going to shave, I do it on Wednesday morning before my Saturday contest and on the other days, while I’m tanning, I go over the areas with an electric shaver to prevent cuts. I also use an electric shaver the morning of the contest, never a razor.

One of the best ways to remove hair is to apply tape-like strips to the desired area and then quickly rip off the strips, removing the hair with the tape. I have never tried this method and I don’t think I will. It does work though and seems to last longer than lotions or shaving. But, man, it really hurts!

You always want to look your best on Saturday morning at the prejudging. If you take care of the little things early on in your preparation, you will be confident, look confident and show well.

The Final Two Weeks Of Contest Prep

The plan during the final two weeks is to lose any remaining fat and water and to bring out the cuts and definition in your muscles.

First, you will act a little goofy. Expect it. This is due to a blend of a high protein and low carb diet. The body needs carbs. When you take them away or cut them back, you tend to lose a little of your thought processes. Not enough to be dangerous to yourself or others. It’s OK to drive, etc., but you might become a little forgetful.

Week one of the two weeks is loaded with ground turkey and fish! After a breakfast of three egg whites and 4 ounces of 98% lean ground turkey, the rest of your solid meals consist of fish. Fish and salad for lunch, fish and green vegetables for dinner. The other two meals are protein shakes. On Monday and Thursday, add a sixth meal, a carb load, consisting of a cup of oatmeal, a banana, a cup of broccoli and ½ of a sweet potato. This meal is designed to fill you out a little so you don’t wind up looking flat on stage. You want to look like Bluto, not Popeye. Or if you are a girl, Betty Boop, not Olive Oyl. The other part of this week’s diet is water. Lots of water. One to two gallons a day. It seems like a lot, but if you keep a jug nearby, drinking from it and filling it when it’s empty, you can easily take in the water you need. Try drinking filtered water or spring water. Don’t be surprised if you visit the bathroom a lot. You are flushing out your system and removing subcutaneous fluids while drinking this much liquid. Stay away from too much coffee (one cup a day is OK) and stay away from alcohol during this training period. Don’t snack. You will have cravings. Just focus on your contest. Wouldn’t you hate to blame a loss in your contest on a slice of chocolate cake?

Your workouts this week should be moderate. Use lighter weights with 8-10 reps per set. Don’t go heavy. You are weak due to the diet and doing heavy lifting could cause injuries. Be careful in the gym. Go slowly. Watch what you are doing. Stay focused. Don’t get angry or impatient with others. Do no more than 20 minutes of easy cardio per day.

Week two is loaded with ground turkey, fish, lean ground beef and grapefruit. On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, after a breakfast of three egg whites and 4 ounces of 98% lean ground turkey, like week one, the rest of your solid meals consist of fish. Fish and salad for lunch and fish and green vegetables for dinner. Again, the other two meals are protein shakes. On Wednesday, eliminate the salad and vegetables and substitute grapefruit. Fish and ½ a grapefruit works well. Also on Wednesday add a sixth carb meal. Same schedule on Thursday. On Friday, the final cutting day, all five meals consist of 6 – 8 ounces of lean ground beef and ½ a grapefruit.

Your workouts this week should consist of pumping up in the weight room and then practice posing. No heavy lifting. You should have done your last leg workout no later than last Saturday. Last Friday is even better. Don’t do any cardio after Tuesday.

On Saturday morning, before pre-judging, have a steak and two whole eggs. Eat the toast and hash browns. Have a cup of coffee. Just sip water as needed. About 45 minutes before your contest, have a Snickers bar. It will fill you out a bit and give you the boost of energy you need for pre-judging. Be sure to spend about 20 minutes back stage pumping up everything except legs. Then, have fun on stage.

Choosing A Contest And Submitting Your Application

Once you decide to train for a competition, before you begin, you should give a lot of thought to the type, size, location, and sanctioning authority of your event. The largest amateur bodybuilding and fitness organization in the world is the National Physique Committee (NPC). They run contests throughout the U.S. and abroad and offer opportunities to compete in the Pro ranks (IFBB). The only drawback to the NPC is their reputation for tolerating steroid use among their contestants. All of their contests are non-tested events and you can expect many of the competitors to be “juiced” and massive as a result, giving them an unfair advantage.

Given the climate of negative publicity surrounding steroid use today, many bodybuilders are turning to tested events, where competitors are screened for illegal muscle enhancing drugs, such as andros, steroids, prescription diuretics, testosterone boost and growth hormones. These types of events give the athlete a level playing field in which to train and compete. There are several national and regional organizations that offer drug-free programs. One of the largest is the National Gym Association (NGA). Another is International Natural Bodybuilding and Fitness (INBF) and Supernatural Bodybuilding and Fitness (SNBF). The former requires seven years of drug free training and competition, the latter requires five years. A large international organization of drug-free competition is the World Natural Sports Organization (WNSO) which includes regional competitions that lead to the annual FAME World Championships in Toronto, Canada in June. All of the natural federations offer opportunities for natural bodybuilders and fitness competitors to turn Pro. All of these organizations have web sites that list contest locations and requirements. Most allow you to download contest information and applications.

If you have competed using steroids or other illegal drugs but haven’t for at least five years, there is a place for you in the natural arena. You will have to pass a polygraph examination before your competition and be tested upon demand at any contest you enter.

If you are just beginning and are looking to enter a contest, the first thing you should do is to attend one of these events in your area to see what they are all about. It’s important for you to attend both the early morning pre-judging and the evening entertainment and awards event to get the entire flavor.

You should then check the websites for contests in your area that are listed well in advance, choose one, look for your age, weight, height and experience categories, see if there is a fit for you and download an application. Read it carefully, make sure you have enough time to prepare (from six to 12 months, depending upon your conditioning and physical development). If you are under 18 years-of-age, a parent must co-sign your application.

One final consideration is cost. Since these are amateur competitions there are no cash prizes, only trophies and medals. A contest can be expensive. You must pay an entrance fee and the required drug test, transportation, hotel, food and miscellaneous expenses, such as ordering contest photos or DVDs. You can expect to spend around 0 for a local contest and double that if you have to travel and stay in a hotel and rent a car. If you can find a training partner to enter a contest with you, you can half your expenses.

After all is said and done, you can enter a contest and, win or lose, have the time of your life. There is nothing like standing on stage, knowing you are as prepared as you can be, and pitting yourself against other like minded athletes. It’s really cool.

Family Considerations

I saved this section for last because if your family is not behind you and supportive of your efforts, you may as well forget about competitive bodybuilding.

“Scott was so dedicated to his exercise, and I said, ‘Gee, you’ve put so much time into this, maybe you ought to compete. His eyes lit up, like Mama had just said, ‘OK’ and now he could do what he really wanted.’” Vivian Hults

This exact quote, which appeared in a story about me recently in The Birmingham News, our local paper, was what my wife told the reporter who interviewed her about my competitive bodybuilding. Without her “interest” in my sport, “we” could have never managed it.

As I said near the beginning of this article, bodybuilding is a lifestyle, plain and simple. Preparing for a contest is time-consuming and all-inclusive in your daily life. You have to consider diet, which means shopping for and preparing special food required to reach your contest diet goals. Sometimes it’s lean mass gain. Other times it’s fat burning/cutting. You spend a lot of time in the kitchen in front of the stove and oven. Your family usually doesn’t eat what you eat, so while your family enjoys pasta and meat sauce, you may be “enjoying” fish and vegetables. That’s the way it is. You have to eat five or six times a day while your family usually has three-squares. Your food and supplements take up room in the kitchen and refrigerator. And, above all, bodybuilding food and supplements are expensive.

A competitive bodybuilder spends at least an hour-and-a-half, five or six days-a-week, in the gym. He or she will also spend 20 or 30 minutes each evening in front of a mirror, posing. This, maybe while drinking a shake. And, during the final two-weeks of carb depletion, sometimes a bodybuilder will become moody and irritable. It’s part of the “game” and the bodybuilder’s family needs to be “understanding.” Sometimes, being a family member of a bodybuilder is not fun. And, your children might be embarrassed that their father or mother participates in this sport.

Bodybuilding is a vanity sport. It’s one of the few sports where the human body is the star of the show. It’s all about the body. Hair removal, tanning, grooming, posing suits, and muscles, muscles, muscles. That’s all there is. Pretty simple, while very complex.

Now, go out and win your Trophy!

By Scott “Old Navy” Hults

Training For Your First Bodybuilding Competition at Any Age

The principle use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a holder for removing hot pans from the oven; It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken-coop the apron

was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids; and when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled it carried out the hulls. In the fall the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will

be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that “old-time apron” that served so many purposes.

Over Stove Microwave Oven

Send this to those who would know, and love the story about Grandma’s aprons.

This story was sent to me by someone who thought I would enjoy it. I do and think you will too.

Does it stir up memories for you?

Then take a few minutes today to either write them down or tell them to a child.

An old African tale says that when a person dies, it is as if a library has burned down. Share your personal history today, someone needs to hear it as much as you need to tell it.

Thank you and good luck.

Grandma’s Apron – Author Unknown

In terms of cooking one can find few tools which have been far more versatile inside the kitchen than the microwave oven. This device provides a lot of functions relating to cooking that most families in no way bother to utilize. It’s sad in fact. In most homes, the micro wave has been relegated to performing duty as a meat defroster, popcorn popper, and coffee warmer instead than employing is since the fabulous device for actual food preparation that it truly is capable of getting.

Over Stove Microwave Oven

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When you possess a microwave oven inside your household that may be utilized mostly for melting butter and warming pizza, then you possess a micro wave as part of your household which is becoming terribly under utilized. It really is time you hit the search engines for recipes that should be suitable for ones micro wave and get busy attempting some thing new and distinctive which will have your family awed and amazed. Imagine having them toss accolades for ones tireless devotion and standing over a hot stove for hours when in actuality you only checked on the micro wave when the suitable time approached.

Micro wave cooking especially nicely may perhaps be the wave of your long term. Get a head start off and start building your collection of splendid microwave oven recipes correct away for the top selection. The day will arrive when you are able to make micro wave cooking the rule instead than the exception.

Why Microwave Cooking Will Be the Future

Everybody loves pizza. Specially those with lots of toppings, yummy melted cheese and toasted crust with fillings. Anyway, enough with the temptation. Pizzas are best when they are cooked correctly and created with the right equipment. Well, the best equipment you can use to cook those lovely pizzas are good and reliable conveyor pizza ovens.

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Conveyor pizza ovens have been around for some time now and they are used by restaurants and shops that include pizza in their menu. These ovens are the best equipment that you can get in cooking pizzas evenly and efficiently.

The best pizza are those which are cooked from top to bottom and with crispy edges. You can do these easily by using the type of oven that is high in quality and designed by pizza experts. You do not need to be a top grade chef to be able to produce the best pizza. You just need simple instructions and a good and dependable conveyor pizza oven to be able to create a mouth watering, tasty pizza. These pizza-cookers may vary in sizes from counter-top ovens to commercial ovens that are stand alone equipments and specifically designed for producing pizzas. These conveyor appliances can be classified into 2 categories; Gas conveyor oven and Electric conveyor oven.

Gas Conveyor Oven

Gas conveyor pizza ovens are those that run on natural gas or LPG. They usually have upper and lower burners and the temperature can range from 50 to 300 C. The temperature can be adjusted according to your pizza requirements.

Electric Conveyor Oven

Electric conveyor pizza ovens are those ovens that have a lower and upper heating devices and can include a conveyor speed control system. The temperature in the oven can range from 0 to 300 C and can cook a pizza within 6 minutes.

Conveyor pizza ovens are ideal for cooking for large pizza orders. With the conveyor pizza oven’s fast and efficient cooking, it can produce large amount of pizzas or baked goods in a short period of time. This equipments are a necessity for restaurant and fast food chains that need to produce baked products fast and high in quality.

Some of the best brand of top grade conveyor pizza ovens are the following:

Blodgett conveyor oven

Blodgett makes ovens with different range and sizes to cater to your specific needs. Blodget conveyor oven features a unique heating system that provides consistent high quality results and larger cooking capacity.

Holman conveyor oven

Holman ovens are produced by Star manufacturing international and takes pride of its high performance and high quality ovens.

Lincoln conveyor oven

Lincoln conveyor oven produces fine quality baked products and features Fastbake technology for cooking high quality pizzas fast and efficient.

If you are contemplating about purchasing top performing conveyor pizza ovens, whether for your business or just for personal use, you should consider choosing one that has a good reputation and reliable brand name. With these information at hand, I assure you that you will be creating top quality commercial or personal pizzas in no time.

Conveyor Pizza Ovens – If You Love Pizzas, Why Not Make Them Homemade the Right Way?

Pork hocks if cooked to my taste, is my all time favorite dish to eat. This part comes from the picnic shoulder of the pig and is pretty similar to the pork shank cross cuts. They are best served for a main meal because it can be considered a heavy dish, for both the light and heavy eater. It’s best to cook them by either braising, barbecuing or by cooking with gravy.

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I personally am in love with pork hocks because my mother used to cook it a lot and I appreciate my mother’s tokens of love although my waist size doesn’t. I learnt that they can be cooked in a variety of ways, but my all time favorite method is to braise them.

The one recipe I recall is by cooking the pork in a slow cooker, with some white wine, one cup of light soy sauce, one cup of dark salted rice wine, half a cup of palm sugar, one third a cup of sliced ginger, four garlic cloves, one onions, half a teaspoon of sesame oil, one cinnamon stick and three one inch inches of orange peel. This recipe can be followed by cooking the pork on the stove by covering the pot with a lid and allowing it to simmer for about 2 hours. The pork can be served with rice or pasta as a side dish.

For those with an addiction to roasted food, barbecued pork hocks is just for you. The taste and the aroma are indescribable and only so much can be explained in an article. The first step is to marinate the pork by marinating it with a mix of onions, black pepper, bay leaves, honey, oyster sauce and some light soy sauce. Allow the pork to marinate for about an hour or two, but just remember that the longer you allow the meat to marinate, the more intense the taste. After that, place the meat on the wired grill and allow the pork ten to fifteen minutes to be cooked on each side to ensure they’re cooked slowly and properly so every part is well done. You can serve the pork with black pepper sauce or without any sauce for that matter.

One thing that cannot be denied is that this dish are calorie packed and should not be eaten too much unless one worries not about one’s expanding waistline and blood pressure but they’re too delicious to pass, and with delicious recipes like these, who can resist?

Pork Hocks – How to Cook Pork Hocks

When shopping for a fireplace or connected interior design goods it is crucial that you make use of the numerous reviews that are published on a great many of the fireplace related websites or directories, to put it simply if you hunting for a cultured stone fireplaces or a decorate fireplace mantel then picking up some first hand information from a fireplace professional is sure to provide you with an advantage over other consumers of connected interior design products.

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One word of warning though, be extremely wary if a “fireplace expert” offers a product guide but then also has a purchasing link on the very same page, for example if you come across a great review on vented gas fireplaces and there does happen to be a “purchase” button then the chances are the reviewer is clearly selling fireplaces and accessories under a pretence. The trick is to locate fireplace reviews from experts who are genuinely interested in this specific sector of interior design.

The best fireplace review website will publish a wide variety of reviews on areas like how to discover the highest quality fireplace for your needs or top fireplace product comparisons, furthermore if the author has reports on products like ventless gas corner fireplaces or ventless propane fireplaces but does not provide any obvious means in which to buy such interior design merchandise then obviously this free fireplace advice is more probably written by a person who merely writes and reviews the topic of fireplaces and accessories for no financial reasons.

The fireplace companies might often look for reliable review portals the minute they launch a new item, lets suppose some new wood burning fireplace manuals have just been released, it is definitely worth the manufacturers sending out a free fireplace product for review due to the fact that they can be certain that if the fireplace specialist gives their merchandise the thumbs up then product sales are sure to go up.

Obtaining info on new fireplace items is fairly easy to do but the typical interior design shopper will require some extra help, depending on the fireplace product you want you should type these kinds of search terms into the search engines but make sure you utilize inverted comma’s, for example “write ups on wood stove inserts” or “double sided fireplace articles”, this will ensure you acquire the exact information you are searching for and hopefully the fireplace tips you are particularly in need of.

Another interesting about fireplace guides is that if you find them in interior design magazines then it may be the goods will be given for free in contests, you see these types of places receive a bundle of fireplace targeted products to review, I myself once won a alcohol gel fireplace which I then sold in order to buy a antique fireplace surround, all this was because I was searching for product reviews on wooden fireplace inserts, product reports are simply priceless.

The Best Fireplace Reviews and the Best Methods to Find Them

There are several ways to cook chicken wings. The original preparation was to deep fry the wing. Many people add flour and spices and then deep fry the wing, while others bake and some barbeque the wings. We are going to discuss the variations and techniques to make the perfect wing. The first wings or “buffalo” wing was first served at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York in 1964. Since then hot wings have become an icon. There are literally thousands of recipes from traditional cayenne pepper and every flavor of ethnic variation in between.

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We love to bake and grill our chicken wings. Baking and grilling the wings is the preferred technique if you are concerned with calories. We bake them first to keep the juices in the meat and then grill them to give them the flavor and crispness hot wing lovers adore. To get the perfect juicy wing buy a roasting pan. Place the wings in the roasting pan; preheat the oven to 400 degrees. After oven is warmed to 400 degrees place wings in oven. Thawed wings should be cooked in roasting pan for 45 minutes, if the wings are frozen 80 minutes should do. After the allotted time place the wings on the grill on medium heat, turning them every few minutes, cook until golden brown and crisp. Place the cooked wings in a pan or container with a lid, pour the sauce all over the wings, place the lid on the container and shake the wings in the sauce. Place the sauced wings back on the grill for a few more minutes and serve. Make sure that your wings are cooked all the way through, undercooked chicken is very dangerous. There should be no pink inside the wings and any juices should run clear.

If you are the deep fry hot wing fan it is easy to prepare the perfect wing. Heat peanut or canola oil to 350 degrees. Use only thawed wings, pat them dry. You can season the wings will kosher salt and cracked pepper. In a bowl mix 1 cup of flour and paprika, dredge the wings in the flour mixture and place them in the fryer for 12 minutes. After the wings are cooked place on a paper towel to drain the oil. Place the cooked wings in a bowl or container with a lid, pour sauce over the wings and shake the wings into the sauce. Serve the wings hot, you can add carrot or celery sticks and or blue cheese or ranch dressing as a side dish.

Cooking wings for your friends and family can be fun and rewarding. It is important to note that not everyone has the same taste and liking. That is why it may be important to have a mild, medium and hot sauce for the wings. Providing all temperatures of sauces will impress your guests and render you the king or queen of the chicken wing revolution!

How to Cook the Best Chicken Wings on the Planet

Tenderloin is the most tender part of the cow. Filet mignon is another name for this cut and if you like succulent, lean, and boneless steaks, you will love it. Tenderloin is not a cheap cut of beef so if you are investing in this fine cut, you will want to know how to cook it to perfection, maintaining its fine texture, compact shape and subtle meaty flavor.

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This cut of the cow is waste-free, versatile, and quick to cook. You can cut it into strips for a stir fry or pasta dish, cubes for kabobs or simple broil, grill or pan fry the filet mignon. Marinated steak recipes are also useful for giving extra flavor to this tender ingredient.

How to Grill It

Grilling is the cooking method of choice for most filet mignon connoisseurs because the flavor is so good. One inch thick tenderloin should be grilled uncovered over moderately hot coals for about fourteen minutes for medium rare to medium. Turn the meat occasionally.

If you want to grill extra thick cuts of filet mignon, an inch and a half thick for example, it is best to cover the grill and cook them for about fifteen minutes for a medium rare to medium doneness, turning the meat once or twice.

How to Broil It

Broiling is just as easy as grilling and if you have one inch thick steaks, put them in a broiler pan so the beef surface is two or three inches from the heat source. Cook the beef for fourteen or fifteen minutes for medium rare to medium.

For thicker cuts, have the filet mignon three or four inches from the heat and broil it for about twenty minutes. If you are using the broiler, just turn it once, halfway through the cooking time.

How to Pan Fry Your Beef

Heat a heavy nonstick skillet over a moderately high heat and then add your half inch thick beef tenderloin without crowding the pan. Let it cook for about four minutes uncovered, turning the meat over once.

If the beef is three quarters of an inch or a whole inch thick, they will take between eight and thirteen minutes to cook in a skillet. Turn the meat occasionally as it cooks.

Tips for Tasty Tenderloin

Browning your steak makes it look extra appealing. Make sure you blot the raw meat on paper towels before you cook it, to encourage browning. You can marinate the meat briefly before cooking it to give it extra flavor.

Easy steak marinades can break down tough cuts of steak but because tenderloin is already tender, it should only be left in the marinade for about twenty minutes. Over-marinating already tender cuts of steak can turn them to mush.

Cook the beef over a moderate heat. If the heat is too high, the outside of the meat might burn before the inside is cooked. A thin steak can be cooked at a higher temperature because the overall cooking time will be less. Turn the meat with a spatula or tongs because piercing the meat can let the tasty juices escape.

How to Cook Tenderloin Steaks

I’ve written previously about pork tenderloin being the best part of the pig. Well, the same can be said about beef tenderloin — it’s the best part of the cow.

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Beef tenderloin is cut from the animal’s middle, specifically the psoas major muscle, which hangs beneath the spine. Beef tenderloin is also the general name for a wholesale cut of beef from which various retail cuts are made, such as filets or tenderloin steaks. As you might guess, beef tenderloin meat is the tenderest and most flavorful kind, generally speaking.

You really don’t need a recipe to cook good beef tenderloin–just follow your instincts, using your favorite preparation method as for any other kind of beef. One of the simplest ways is to rub it with seasonings such as garlic powder, salt and black pepper (the last being coarsely ground, preferably). Put the beef and a tablespoon of cooking oil in a pan on your stove top, browning the meat all over. Then put it in the oven and roast it for about half an hour at 460 degrees F or hotter, making sure to turn it occasionally.

Here’s a more exact recipe if you don’t care to wing it:

Ingredients

4 medium-sized beef tenderloin steaks

4 tablespoons of coarsely ground black pepper

2 gloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Place steaks in a roasting pan. Rub steaks with minced garlic, salt and black pepper.

3. Place roasting pan in oven and cook on one side for 4 minutes. Flip steaks. Cook for 4 minutes more, or to desired state of doneness.

How to Cook Beef Tenderloin, the Best Part of the Cow