Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Cooking Games Online


While trying to think of new recipes to cook for a healthier you, look through the huge number of cooking games you can find online. The cooking games online are varied and have plenty of options for how to amuse yourself. A few of my personal favorites follow.

Pizza cooking games. Everyone loves pizza, and I’m not an exception. To play the pizza cooking games, start with a blank canvas of a crust and add whatever you need to make it delicious. You can add toppings in an elegant pictorial fashion or just chunk them on there to get the pizzas in the oven and out the door more quickly.

Cake cooking games. In the cake cooking games, you get to not only make the cake, but to decorate it as well. I think decorating large wedding cakes is easily one of the most amusing things I’ve done in a while.

BBQ cooking games. In the BBQ cooking games, you start with a grill and then the orders come pouring in. Grill up the food and serve it quickly if you plan to advance to the next level.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Cooking Games and 2010


In 2010, most of us are going to resolve to be healthier, and that starts no place other than the kitchen. Playing cooking games in 2010 can make a huge difference in how healthy we are and how great we feel. When you look forward to 2010, start your cooking games in a different way – plan around the sorts of food you should be eating.

It can be as simple as working in a fruit or vegetable at every meal. We should be having five or six servings of fruits and veggies every day, but if you’re counting French Fries as a vegetable, you might start with a single serving at every meal and then add more to the list. Once you get in the groove, you’ll be better off.

If you take foods away in your cooking games, be sure to replace them with others. When you leave a hole in your diet, you’ll likely fill it with the same foods you used to eat. So it’s better to add those fruits in to replace the sweets you used to eat to keep your cooking games more balanced.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Cooking Games Sugar Cookies


One of the most basic forms of cookie is perfect for the holiday season. Playing cooking games with sugar cookies can entertain you for hours and give you something yummy to munch on, too.

To play sugar cookie cooking games, start with a roll of sugar cookie dough. You can make it from scratch, but it is far easier to just make the cut cookies from the dough you already have. Roll out the dough and sprinkle it with flour. Dip a cookie cutter in flour and press into the dough.

Carefully remove the cutter and the sugar cookie shape will be left behind. Do this for all of your dough and once all the shapes are made, use a spatula to transfer them to the cooking sheet. Making cut sugar cookies can take quite a bit of time as there is so much rolling, cutting and moving, but despite how long it takes, this form of Christmas cookie is a holiday favorite.

When the cookies are cut and baked, it’s time to decorate them with tubes of icing and perhaps small candies stuck to the cookies with a dot of icing on the back.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Christmas Cooking Games


Cooking games bring the family together all year long, but there is something especially special about Christmas and the way it encourages families to come together over little gingerbread men or sugar cookie shapes. Among the favorite Christmas cooking games you’ll find:

Gingerbread Houses – a simple kit can be purchased at the store or you can make your won by baking the gingerbread pieces ahead of time. Use heavy icing as paste to squish everything together and hold it in place. Small candies decorate the gingerbread house along the roofline, windows, doors and elsewhere.

Sugar Cookies – Cutting out sugar cookies and then baking them to be frosted and decorated with bright icing is a Christmas tradition in many families. Make the cutting and decorating a family adventure and then give the cookies as gifts to unsuspecting friends of the family and grandparents.

Fudge – Making fudge can require some heat, so always be with your children while the fudge is cooking. But once it’s off and running, add some walnuts, smooth into a pan and enjoy the delicious rich chocolate treat.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Cooking Games and Successes


Finding success in the kitchen isn’t too complex, but that doesn’t take anything away from how rewarding it can be. When you’re creating thing in the kitchen you focus is on the steps of food preparation, and getting everything right is certainly something worth celebrating. But the true successes of cooking games are a bit less visible.

The best parts of cooking games is sharing your creations with others. When you prepare something for the first time and it turns out well, you’re likely thrilled. But when you’re able to show others how well you did and boast proudly of how you added the spices and things on your own accord you’re giving the others a chance to praise not only your efforts, but your creations as well.

The more you cook and work to prepare food for others, the greater your reputation for culinary skill will grow. Who knows, you might someday be celebrating your success in a fancy restaurant thinking back to the cooking games you enjoyed when you were just a kid. And those around you can brag that they knew you before you were ever famous.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Cooking Games and Spices


Learning to use spices in cooking games is one of the more advanced elements of the experience. Cooking games begin as basic exercises in food preparation. You might make some fruit salad by cutting up fruit with a plastic knife. As you age and gain more experience you get to move into other cooking games such as using the microwave or learning to use the oven properly.

Eventually you’re able to cut things and handle sharp knives and hot pans. When you’re able to use the appliances and avoid any cuts or burns while preparing dishes you can serve your family, you’ve probably moved into the realm where spices are a real possibility.

Cooking games are fun on many levels, but when you’re able to truly personalize the things you’re making, you’ll be able to show the sorts of foods you really like and make it simple for everyone else to enjoy those sorts of things too. Be bold and try new combinations of spices following the advice of chefs and recipes at first before bolding moving into your own preferences.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

The Best Ways to Try Cooking Games


Cooking games are a lot of fun no matter when you have a chance to try them. Of course finding the right time to try the games can be a bit of a challenge at times. The best times to try cooking games are reasonably straight forward, but that doesn’t mean we can remember that easily.

Try cooking games when it’s not mealtime. If you’re just experimenting with cooking games, you don’t want to be tying up the kitchen and other resources while the real cook is whipping up a meal for everyone.

Try cooking games when someone else is home. Don’t cook alone. You don’t want to risk a fire or accident with a knife when you’re alone and there is nobody to help you out in your time of need.

Try cooking games when you’re not in a hurry. Rushing to finish something is a time that you’re likely to get hurt or mess up. Take things slow and easy, especially while you’re learning something new.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Cooking Games and Your Favorite Foods


Like everyone, you probably have favorite foods and there is no reason you can’t incorporate those food choices into your cooking games. Start your cooking games thinking of new ways you can experiment with favorite foods. For example, if you love French fries, consider making them from scratch by cutting up potatoes and actually seasoning and then baking or frying (with an adult’s help) the slices to make the fries.

You can also cook regular fries and then find new ways to serve those fries. Perhaps use them in a sort of casserole or top them with chili and cheese for a warm, hearty snack. You can do the same sort of variations with any food source. If you have a favorite food at a local restaurant, see if you can weasel the recipe out away from the cooks and then try it yourself at home. There are actually lots of recipes online that are from major restaurants.

What’s most important is that you find plenty of ways to cook and enjoy your favorite foods. The more ways you have to eat them, the happier you’ll be with the cooking games.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

3 Dangerous Cooking Games


When playing cooking games, some are certainly more dangerous than others. Among the most dangerous you’ll find these:

Grilling cooking games. When you’re working on the grill, you’re using an open flame and often using meat that contains a great deal of grease. This is a very bad combination for flare ups and even large fires. Never leave a grill unattended and clear away anything near the grill that might be at risk. Clean the grill thoroughly before use to prevent any fires from old material as well.

Cooking games with knives. Knives are just inherently dangerous. Large or small sharp blades like to connect with soft flesh and they can do some serious damage. If you’re not comfortable with a knife, don’t use it. If in doubt, always ask for help cutting something. Using a sharp knife is also better than a dull one that might slip around a bit on the surface of the fruit or item you’re cutting.

Meat cooking games. Cooking games with meat have the inherent risk of not being well enough done. If meat is undercooked it has a huge health risk. There are any number of diseases that can come from undercooked meat, and a handy meat thermometer will help you determine how things are looking as you prepare items.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Cooking Games and Campouts


There are so many fun things to cook when you’re on a campout. Playing around with a campfire especially makes things a bit more interesting, and you’ll have to get creative about what you do with only one pot and a small grill.

When playing cooking games over an open campfire, you’ll need to be very aware of how you’re handling yourself. Fire safety is a huge concern cooking outdoors. Be sure to use long-handled utensils to avoid getting burned and use the edges of the fire, the hot coals, to do most of the cooking. You don’t want to risk setting you or your food on fire, after all.

When planning a meal for a campout, the cooking games will need to include a few different kinds of food if you’re hoping to finish everything at one time. The hamburgers might be cooking on the little grill while the beans cook in the can on top of the fire. Fruit is in the cooler and drinks are ready and waiting in the thermos.

The nice thing about playing cooking games over an open fire is that there are no back-up plans. You can’t just throw a cup of noodles in the microwave or make some quick nachos. It’s all you, all the time – and that make the cooking games fun.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

The Case for Cooking Games


Cooking games are one of the most entertaining ways to spend time online. The cooking games include any number of specialized skills you can test in a bakery, grill or pizza shop. Cooking games require you to balance your skills and to get the job done quickly and efficiently. Waste is penalized and the ultimate reward is making it to the next level after you master a level.

Cooking games make your brain work in a high efficiency way. Balancing multiple tasks at a high rate of speed is like brain candy. It cranks your mind up to a higher level of thinking and suddenly it’s important to look forward into the future to ensure the present is worthwhile. A heavy life lesson shown very simply though a simple cooking game.

Cooking games not only allow you to play cooking games online, you also have the option to take the cooking games offline. Play online cooking games to build skills and learn the basics of the kitchen. Then take the reins and start applying what you’ve learned to the real world and practice whipping up large delicious meals.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Online Cooking Games


Online cooking games are one of the most entertaining ways to spend a fifteen minute study break. Playing online cooking games lets you exercise your mind in a totally different way than you’re used to in most cases. Those online cooking games can include anything from flipping burgers to making ice cream sundaes.

In an online cooking game, you’re putting the food items together to match the increasingly complicated orders. In a grilling game, you’ll be making hamburgers and hot dogs quickly trying to get them on the plates without burning anything on the grill in the meantime. Every plate that goes out successfully earns you points. Every food item that burns on the grill goes to waste and looses you points.

Cooking games online are a bit of a challenge. Playing cooking games lets you build up your speed and it engages the mind in a way you’re not used to when your brain has checked out during some English homework. Forcing yourself to concentrate and win the game will actually help you stay on track when you do return to your essay in a few minutes.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Cooking Games and Calories


When you play cooking games, some girls can’t help but think of calories. Calories aren’t really the enemy, however. Calories will exist in everything you eat, the number of calories present will vary wildly, of course. The more calorie in a particular item, the richer it is likely to be, and it will need to be considered carefully if you’re watching your weight.

High calorie foods tend to be yummy. Rich, fatty, sugary foods are delicious to eat, but often have more calories than they do nutrition. Cakes, for example, are fun to bake and fun to eat, but don’t do much for you nutrient wise. You can tackle this in two ways.

The first is to simply bake those cakes and other goodies for friends, family members and neighbors. Stick to the low cal treats, such as fruit, for yourself. The other option is to make the cake and eat it, too. Just know that you’ll have to cut way back on junk food for the next couple of day to counteract the calories from the one day of treats.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Cooking Games – Icing a Cake


There are plenty of ways to ice a cake, but the most fun is to do it with creative flair. Think about what you want from your cake. Do you want to make cupcakes of every color? Or perhaps you’ll be making a sheet cake for a friend’s birthday? How good are you with icing and art? If you have a pretty fair hand, you’ll be able to design a fun cake with a picture and writing. If you’re lucky to hold a spatula correctly, you can still enjoy sprinkles and other goodies.

Icing a cake is easily the most fun of the entire cake cooking game. Cooking games with icing are especially enjoyable because occasionally nibbles of icing make it into your mouth. When spreading icing, be sure that the cake is cooled completely. A hot cake will melt the icing and make things runny and a mess.

Spread the icing in thick layers using a spatula to spread it out. Start in the center of the cake and move outward. If you want an impressive presentation, plan on moving the cake to a clean platter once it’s iced. You can do this using a round piece of cardboard under the cake.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Cooking Games and Picky Eaters


Cooking games are one of the greatest things for picky eaters. Most picky eaters are choosy about what foods go into their mouths, and while mostly psychological, having control of the food as it is prepared can do a lot to help alleviate this problem. After all, many picky eaters aren’t doing it to be aggravating, they just don’t want to eat certain things for whatever reason.

If you have an older child who is a picky eater, turn him loose with a simple junior cookbook and oven mitts. Having him create his own meals or, better, the family’s meals at least once a week will encourage him to try new things and to experiment with dishes as well. This freedom is fun for the child to experiment with and it gives you a bit of a break as well from playing short-order cook.

If he hates one ingredient of a dish, but it sounds interesting, you can encourage him to substitute in something else or to leave things out to see what you get. Let him read through the recipes looking for things he’ll tolerate and let him put the full meal together including sides. Take him to the grocery store to show him to buy ingredients and teach him to be truly self-sufficient – a big treat for a picky eater.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Cooking Games: Making Fruit Salad Bowls


Fruit salad is delicious and nutritious, but there is no reason why fruit salad can’t be fun as well. Making fruit salad is as simple as cutting up your favorite kinds of fruit and mixing them together. But why not make the containers for your fruit salad just as interesting as the dish itself?

When making a large bowl of fruit salad, start with a watermelon. Cut away two “corners” of the melon to leave a handle in the center and a high bowl. Use a melon ball scoop to start removing the red in lovely little melon balls. Store them in a separate container for now. When you’ve created melon balls enough to empty the watermelon rind “bowl” scrape out any residue.

Create melon balls of honey dew melon and cantaloupe as well. Mix in blueberries and a few strawberries before carefully pouring all of the mix back into the “bowl” of watermelon. Tie a fun ribbon on the handle and you’re ready to serve. The concoction is a fun centerpiece and it’s also delicious.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Grilling Cooking Games


Using an outside grill is one of the best ways to cook. The outside grill lets you heat up food over an open flame and the barbeque results are almost always yummy. There are endless varieties of foods you can cook on a grill, but if you plan on learning to use the grill, be aware of a few things.

Grills take some time to heat up. You can’t cook on a grill like you can the microwave. Leave the grill at least fifteen minutes to warm up before you put any food on it.

You’ll need to watch the grill. Unlike the oven, you can’t stick food into the grill and then walk away and wait on the timer. Cooking on a grill requires you to be present and ready to deal with any surprises. Fat dripping into the fire from a yummy steak can start a fire, for example. Granted, closing the lid on the fire with the vents closed ought to take care of it quickly enough.

Grilled food has a distinctive flavor. Grilled foods cooked over an open flame have a very distinctive flavor. You can change the flavor by adding different kinds of wood and different levels of smoke.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Cooking Games and School Lunches


If you’re trying to figure out how to throw together a fast school lunch without worrying about eating cafeteria food or heating things up, you’ll need to get creative. Cooking games with school lunches almost never involve heat, but if you invest in a good thermos, you can do pretty terrific things with school lunches. Here are just a few suggestions of ways to improve your school lunches.

Soups. In a high-tech thermos, store your piping hot soup from the morning and you’ll have warm, if not hot, soup a few hours later at lunch time. The soup you boil in the microwave can be poured into a thermos. Sip it straight out of the thermos or pour it into the attached cup lid for a yummy, filling lunch.

Sandwiches. Toast a sandwich in the morning and it won’t be soggy by lunchtime provided you don’t include mayo or mustard. Toast a ham and cheese and store in the lunchbox wrapped in foil. It might be warm, but it’s better than a soggy cold sandwich. You can do the same thing with quesadillas whipped up in the mornings.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Cooking Games – Omelets


Creating your own custom omelet will give you a bit of variety in the mornings, and omelets are a great choice for hurried dinners when you’re not starving and want to try to get in a few healthy choices. Omelets can be heavy, but most often they are a lighter choice for breakfast or a nice brunch option.

Preparing for Cooking Games
To make an omelet, you’ll need:
  • Eggs
  • Skillet
  • Butter
  • Cheese
  • Bacon or Ham
  • Chives
  • Mushrooms
  • Other toppings you enjoy

Cooking Games – Omelet
To make the omelet, heat the skillet on the stove using medium heat. Whip the eggs up in a glass until they are blended. A quick shot of milk can make the eggs fluffier if you prefer. Melt a pat of butter in the skillet and be sure it is well coated. Pour the eggs into the skillet.

Allow the omelet to cook for a while and then carefully pour your topping choices into the center of the omelet. As you see the eggs beginning to harden in the pan, flip the omelet over. It will continue to cook once it is removed from the pan for a minute, but be sure that you wait until the eggs are mostly cooked – nobody like a runny omelet.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Cooking Games and Sleepovers


The best cooking games come from sleepovers. When you’re having your best friends over, you can get creative with all kinds of cooking games. The best ones are the ones you play together – not the ones you play before your friends come over, although all of the cooking games are fun.

Omelet cooking games are fun for a light evening meal or for breakfast. Scramble eggs and let your friends create their own omelet from the topping you have laid out on the table. Start the eggs and dump in the toppings one by one to make a special dish for each friend – this works best with smaller groups since the omelets take a while to cook.

Ice cream cooking games are another crowd favorite. $10 in ice cream, candy and whipped cream can make the ice cream games a lot of fun. Pass out fancy ice cream dishes and then load them up with different flavors of ice cream covered in fudge, caramel and toppings galore. Then sit down and enjoy the results of your cooking game in front of a great movie.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Best After School Cooking Games


If you’re hungry after school, why not enjoy some quick cooking games? After school snacks can be much more than a bag of chips or a candy bar. In fact, they should be. The best cooking games for after school include:

Microwave Popcorn – Throw it in the microwave and heat until ready. It’s simple, it’s tasty and it’s far better a choice than greasy chips. This is especially true if you select a natural popcorn or a light variety.

Hot Dogs – a turkey or all beef hot dog is a great way to get a bit of protein to replenish your energy stores. Cooking a hot dog can be as simple as putting one in a pot of boiling water or cooking it in the microwave. Carefully throw it in a bun and enjoy.

Nachos – Another fairly decent option for after school, take a plate of chips and cover it in cheese. If you have beans or nacho meat available, be sure to throw those on as well. Cook the nachos in the oven on a pan or in the microwave until the cheese is melted. Garnish with a bit of lettuce and tomato and enjoy!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Cooking Games – Rice Krispie Treats


I am a huge fan of Rice Krispie treats. In fact, I consider them one of the best ways to eat breakfast cereal. Of course, there is the small aspect of added sugar and butter, but nevertheless, the Rice Krispies have the snap, crackle and pop I so dearly love.

Cooking Game Ingredients
To make Rice Krispie Treats you’ll need:

  • Rice Krispie cereal
  • Marshmallow cream
  • Butter

Cooking Game Instructions
Start by scooping out the marshmallow cream and melting it completely in the microwave. Stir it frequently to keep it heating evenly and not scorching. Remove the marshmallows from the microwave and then put in a tablespoon of butter to melt.

Pour the melted butter over the melted marshmallows. Stir the mixture together until smooth. Pour in two cups of Rice Krispie cereal. Fold it gently into the marshmallow mixture. Add a bit more cereal until the mixture is stiff and hard to stir.

Scrape the mixture out into a greased pan. Press the top of the treats flat using a piece of parchment paper and place the pan in the refrigerator. When the treats cool, cut and enjoy!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Cooking Games: Grilled Cheese


It is truly a staple in many households. The grilled cheese sandwich is easy to cook and even easier to enjoy. Making a grilled cheese sandwich does involve using a hot pan or griddle so be sure a parent know what you’re up to and be extra careful.

Ingredients for Cooking Games
  • Bread
  • Butter or Margarine Spread
  • Cheese
  • Ham or other sandwich items if preferred.
Cooking Game Instructions
To make a grilled cheese, start by heating up the skillet or griddle. Spread butter on one side of a piece of bread. Flip the bread onto the heated griddle with the butter side down. Place one or two pieces of cheese on the bread. Most use American cheese, but you can use cheddar or Swiss as well.

Butter the other piece of bread and place it on top of the sandwich with the buttered side facing out. The sandwich will need to cook on one side for a few minutes. Lift a corner from time to time to see if it’s brown. Your griddle should be heated to a medium setting. A high setting will burn the sandwich.

Once your grilled cheese sandwich is brown, very carefully use a spatula to flip it over in the skillet. Allow the new side enough time to cook as well. When the second side is brown as well, scoop the sandwich out of the skillet and put it on a plate. Throw on some of your favorite chips, fruit and maybe a pickle. Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Cooking Games – Fresh Juice


There are huge health advantages to drinking freshly squeezed juices. Playing with a juicer or even just a squeezing mechanism can give you fresh juice in the mornings to start your day correctly and improve your health.

Juice and Cooking Games
Fresh juice is called for in many different cooking games, but the best thing about getting the fresh juice from fruit is that it is simply delicious to enjoy and easy to include in many recipes. The most basic fruits to use for juicing are citrus fruits. Oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruits tend to produce a lot of juice.
Squeezing Fresh Fruits
To get the juice from fresh fruits, you’ll need some sort of juicer. There are presses that simply squeeze the fruit to the point that all the juices run out. There are electric juicers that dismantle the fruit completely and extract a huge amount of juice. Electric juicers are especially useful if you hope to extract juice from fruits that would be harder to squeeze by hand. Apples, bananas and berries are all easy to use in a juicer.

Your final option is to use a hand juicer. These most certainly work best for citrus fruits. A hand juicer looks like a raised cone. Simply press the citrus fruit onto the cone and twist. By the time you make it to the rind, you’ll have generated a huge amount of pulp and a substantial amount of juice as well.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Cooking Games – Breakfast for Dinner


I love the little surprises of the day, and having breakfast at the end of the day is a great way to make things feel a bit loose and topsy-turvy. Having breakfast at the end of the day is another great way to get a lot of important protein and nutrients without having to spend hours cooking.

Eggs – You’ll want to include eggs. Scrambled eggs are the easiest and most people enjoy the scrambled version of the eggs. Omelets are another good variation as they let you include vegetables and even meat in your single protein dish.

Meat – Meat is another common item to be included in breakfast for dinner. Bacon, sausage, ham or even steak make the dinner enjoyable and heavy enough to be satisfying at the end of the day.

Fruit and Veggies – You can include vegetables in omelets, but they are bit less common on their own. Fruit, however, is a nice addition to breakfast. Enjoy orange juice, fresh fruit, fruit salad or chopped fruit over pancakes or waffles.

Bread – Finally, you’ll likely want some sort of bread dish with your breakfast for dinner. Waffles, pancakes, toast or biscuits can certainly hit the spot. Bread is a nice filler during the meal and will help you feel full and comfortable.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Cooking Games – Variations of Pancakes


Pancakes are one of the most enjoyable foods out there and there are so many simple things you can do to enjoy pancakes in a whole new way.

Blueberry Pancakes
Start with the regular pancake batter and then stir in blueberries. Stir slowly and carefully to be sure that the blueberries don’t break inside the batter. When you go to cook the pancakes, they will be a bit thicker than you might be used to thanks to the big blueberries inside them, but they will be much more delicious than any blueberry pancakes you might buy in the freezer section.

Chocolate Chips
Another simple pancake variation is to make chocolate chip pancakes. Simply stir in mini or regular sized chocolate chips while you’re working on the batter. The bigger the chip, the more fragile your pancake will be, but those blobs of chocolate will taste great. Make your pancake batter a bit thin to help avoid a cake like feel.

Banana Nut Pancakes
Making this healthy, luxurious pancake involves an extra step or two. Mash bananas very finely. Stir the bananas into pancake batter. Add a handful of walnuts that are finely chopped. Cook and enjoy. Another variation is to cook the pancake batter with just nuts inside the pancakes and then cover the cooked pancakes with sliced bananas.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Cooking Games in a Dorm


If you’re not too sure about dorm food when you head off to college next year, consider setting yourself up to cook a bit in your dorm room. You don’t actually need much to cook for yourself and it can be had for less than $200 – a drop in the bucket for dorm stuff, really.

A refrigerator
. You’ll need a fridge to store your cold stuff in. If you can find one that has a working freezer – terrific! But most will have a faulty freezer if they have one at all. Better to stick with cold stuff, not frozen.

A hotplate, toaster and griddle. You can do everything you need to with a simple hotplate, a small toaster and a griddler. You can even opt for a toaster oven and be able to bake simple things as well. If you’re going simple, opt for the hotplate. You can boil up a pan of noodles or soup easily enough.

Microwave. If you have space and the budget, include a microwave in your plans. Most dorms have microwaves on the hallway somewhere, however.

Plates, bowls, spoons, forks, can opener. You’ll need something to eat this yummy food with, so be sure you have cheap eating utensils, plates bowls and the essential can opener. You might throw in a bottle opener, too – you never know!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Cooking Games – Apartment Cooking


If you’re moving into your very first apartment, you’ll need to find the basics for your kitchen without spending too much in the process. Finding great deals on cook wear and dinner wear can be relatively straightforward, especially if you have lots of time to dedicate to the process.

Hit Garage Sales
Start by walking through garage sales in your area. A lot of people sell old pots and pans as they buy new ones. Most look a bit beaten up, but they still cook perfectly well. Snatch up plates and utensils at a sale as well and you’ll be in business.

Take Stock
Take stock of what you have and what you still need once you’ve spent some time begging from your parents and shopping the garage or yard sales. Think about what you truly will use and what you only think you want. For example, a stand mixer is awesome, but you’re much more likely to have space to store a simple handmixer than the stand one with bells and whistles.

Look For Sales
To finish off your cooking games kit for your new apartment, shop sales and discount stores. Enjoy buying things that are fun and funky as that is exactly the stage of life you’re in at this point.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Cooking Games – Quesadillas


Looking for a great snack that’s hot and yummy without being too much trouble? Look no farther the delicious quesadilla.

Gather Ingredients for Cooking Game
To make cheese quesadillas you’ll need a few ingredients.

  • Tortillas
  • Monterrey Jack cheese (or Mexican blend)
  • Butter
  • Salsa

Instructions for Cooking Games
Begin heating a skillet while you prepare the ingredients. Spread butter lightly on two tortillas. When the skillet is heated to a medium heat, toss a tortilla on, butter side down. Add shredded cheese and a few spoonfuls of salsa on top of the cooking tortilla. Top this with the other tortilla, buttered side up.

Allow the first side to cook until the tortilla is golden brown. Carefully flip the quesadilla over to cook the other side. When both sides are crispy and golden, turn off the skillet and put the quesadilla on a plate. Cut and enjoy!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Cooking Games – Muffin Pizzas


If you’ve never enjoyed English muffins, perhaps you simply didn’t know how to prepare them correctly. You can certainly toast the English muffins and eat them with butter or peanut butter, but my personal favorite way to prepare English muffins is in a pizza.

Ingredients for Cooking Games
You’ll need to gather a few ingredients for the cooking game:

* English muffins
* Toaster oven
* Pizza sauce
* Mozzarella cheese
* Basil
* Pepperoni or other toppings as desired.

Instructions for Cooking Game
Slice the English muffins in half so that you have two circles. Carefully spoon on sauce and spread it around to the very edges of the muffin. Sprinkle cheese on top of the sauce. Follow the cheese with a dash of basil for additional flavor. Finally, add a few slices of pepperoni if you’d like.

Bake the muffins in the toaster oven for about twenty minutes. Be careful removing the pan as it will be hot and enjoy!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Cooking Games – Popcorn Buffet


Creating a popcorn buffet is a simple way to make a movie with friends even more exciting. You’ll need to collect at least three or four different kinds of popcorn to make this work, and if you can find divided bowls of deeply divided plates, you’ll be doing even better to share your popcorn buffet with friends.

Cooking Game Instructions
Microwave popcorn is simple and inexpensive. You can use a traditional popcorn air popper if you’d like and add toppings later – it’s up to you and what your guests will enjoy.

Pop the popcorn one bag at a time. Since you’re sharing the various flavors, you probably don’t need to pop more than a single bag of each of your four flavors. As you pop each one, pour the popped corn into a bowl and place it on the counter. If you have truly unusual popcorns, such as pepper and garlic, a small sign beside the bowl can help guests make up their mind.

When all four bags are popped, offer your guests bowls to fill or plates to fill with the popcorn of their choosing. If they’d prefer to keep it separate, it’s easy enough to use multiple small bowls, or they can fill a larger bowl or bag with a mixed assortment of the various popcorns.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Cooking Games and Candy


One of my favorite elements to use in cooking games are the various forms of candy. You can use your favorite types of candy in any number of cooking games, although they are almost certainly going to be desserts or sweet snack foods. The following are a few of my favorite candy cooking games.

Gingerbread Houses – Decidedly a winter treat, gingerbread houses let you slather sheets of gingerbread with icing and then decorate with your favorite candies. If you get creative, you can figure out all kinds of things to do with candy. Licorice laces can be piping. Candy canes can be fence posts. Tootsie rolls can be logs for the fire and colored sugar and sprinkles can make paths and rivers.

Ice Cream Sundaes – Who can resist the idea of ice cream lathered with chocolate and sprinkled with your favorite candy and nut combinations? Of course the best way to eat a candy ridden ice cream sundae is with whipped cream and cherries on top.

Frosted Cookies – I think frosted sugar cookies are one of the greatest ways to send a message. Ice the cookies and then spell out letters and symbols using small candy pieces. Arrange the statement you’re making on a plate or cardboard and deliver.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

My Favorite Cooking Games


I love cooking games, and among the hundreds available online, I like the ones that are a bit different. Granted, everyone loves cooking games that include making pizza or flipping burgers, but pushing the envelope into something new and different is much more rewarding to a gamer such as myself.

Breakfast cooking games are among my favorites. I love to pull all of the pieces together for a great breakfast. The beauty of playing breakfast games is that there are so many varieties and levels of detail you can do even for simple family of five or six. Start with a simple breakfast of eggs and bacon. Perhaps grill some toast as well.

Then you can move on to the truly exquisite breakfast items including quiche and frittatas. Finding online cooking games that have the full variety of breakfast games will be tricky, certainly, but when you find one, you’ll be practicing not only your most crucial skill of flipping eggs, but you might wind up tossing a few pancakes as well.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Great Cooking Games for Growing Closer


Cooking games are a great way to grow closer to someone. If you’re interested in a guy, for example, you already know that the best way to his heart is through his stomach, but it is more than a big meal that can make you close to the guy in your life – it’s the intimacy and fun of preparing food together.

Stand shoulder to shoulder while you slice and dice. If this sort of closeness is cramping your style or your elbow, switch your seat across the island so that you’re looking at him while you both cut and prepare items. Being able to glance at each other while working helps conversation to flow easily and well. It is this conversation that begins the real work of the cooking game relationship building exercise.

Talk about food or anything else you might find interesting that pops into your mind while you work. Look for meal ideas that include foods that cook quickly and require constant attention. This will keep you both in the kitchen working rather than moving on into other rooms of the house while something bakes for an hour, for example.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Cooking Games and Pizza


If you’ve tried cooking games online, you know exactly how much fun it can be to make pizzas. Throw toppings onto virtual pizzas and get them baked in time to feed hungry customers. As you progress from one level to the next, your skill improve and you’ll be putting yourself to the test. Making your own pizza in the kitchen, however is just as much fun – especially if you try something different.

Traditional Pizza – You can make pizza by creating your own crust or buying crust in a tube. Roll it out, toss it around if you dare and then bake for a minute. Add some ingredients, cook and enjoy. You can add some different styles of ingredients such as macaroni and cheese or chicken to this sort of pizza to add a bit of extra flavor. Don’t be afraid to try something new.

Fruit Pizza – A fruit pizza is a bit different from a normal pizza. Start with sugar cookie dough and roll it out. Cook the cookie until it is barely done and allow it to cool. Slather the cookie with icing and start adding some of your favorite fruits – berries are especially good on a fruit pizza.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Cooking Games and Your Hands


You might not think about your hands in relation to cooking games, but you probably should. Playing cooking games in your own kitchen can actually be a bit dangerous if you’re not being careful. It’s not only a concern for you how you treat your hands, but a concern for others as well.

Keep your nails trim and clean. Imagine someone with long, scruffy looking nails. Would you want potentially gross nail junk down in your food if that person were making it for you? If you’ve got long nails or short ones for that matter, keep them cleaned up and absolutely clean. Use a nailbrush to remove as much gunk as possible from underneath them as well.

Wash and protect you hands before you cook. Look over your hands. If you have any cuts or open sores on your hands, you don’t need to be kneading bread or making burger patties. Not only will it sting when the juices get into your cuts, but germs can also be getting into the food you’re preparing. If you’re working with meat, you also run the risk of getting bacteria in to the cut and earning yourself a nice infection. Use plastic gloves or wait until you’re healed to avoid this problem.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Cooking Games Online


When you play cooking games online, you’re able to enjoy a whole different variety of girl games. Cooking games are special because they are different from the more typical dress up game. My cooking game favorites include:


Pizza Making Games – I love to create virtual pizzas almost as much as I like to create the real thing. Making pizza is a fun way to exercise a bit of creativity in the placement of toppings and a nice way to practice online for something you might very well make on your own that evening.

Grilling Games – I also really like the games where you get to grill things. It’s a race against the clock to get the right things on the grill and get them served up and flipped before your run out of time or things get burned. Getting it right level after level is especially challenging.

Ethnic Games – I also love the cooking games from other countries where I get to create the various ethnic foods I love so much in real life. Making different items online gives me a pretty good idea of what it takes to make that sort of thing in my own kitchen.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Cooking Games and Injuries


If you’re enjoying cooking games at your home, it’s very likely you’ve had some trouble with injuries. There are many ways to get hurt in the kitchen, and even with the most cautious approach and careful handling, burns, scrapes and other injuries happen.

Burns – With so many different sources of heat in the kitchen, it’s no surprise that you wind up burned from time to time. When you do get burned, run the burned area under cold water to take away the sting and maybe apply ice. Do not put butter or lotion on the burn as it locks in the heat and can make the injury hurt more. If the burn is large or seems severe, call your doctor or the emergency room.

Cuts – Knives and other sharp kitchen utensils make it more than likely that you’ll wind up cut at some point. You should always be extremely careful with knives and handle those and other sharp objects carefully. If you receive a shallow cut or scrape, have a parent clean it out with an antiseptic product or do so yourself. Bacteria which causes infections is rampant in a kitchen, so you must clean a cut before covering it with a bandage or two. If your cut is severe, doesn’t stop bleeding or is a puncture wound such as a deep spot where an ice pick went into your hand or arm, see a doctor for treatment.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Cooking Games – Using Herbs


When you play cooking games in your kitchen, not only do you have the opportunity to create some interesting and healthy dishes, you have the added opportunity to use some of the herbs you’ve begun to grow in a vegetable garden. If you’re not yet started a garden, herbs a great choice because they can almost all be grown in containers. Having herbs in containers allows them to grow well in solid surroundings before being planted in a more permanent location.

When you cook using herbs, you’ll be adding a bit of seasoning or extra flavor to the meal at hand. Certain meals call for different herbs, so this is something you’ll need to try a few times before you find the right one to add at the right time. Cooking games should include plenty of opportunities to learn new skills, and gardening and then using your own herbs is a great way to do exactly that.

Use a solid cookbook first to find the correct amount of each herb to add to your dish when you’re getting started. As you get more comfortable with your vegetables and herbs, you’ll be able to simply eyeball supper to determine what you need to add and when purely by taste rather than through careful measurement. It is the goal of every great chef to break away from the ordinary to try the extrodinary.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Cooking Games – Growing Your Own Veggies


One off the many cooking games that is often overlooked is the farm-style cooking game. In these sorts of cooking games, you’re able to plant and then grow the food you actually use in your cooking games. Well, the two aren’t actually connected. Usually one game involves planting and growing the food and another one shows you how to cook the item, but there is just as much fun in the garden as there is in the kitchen – perhaps more.

A vegetable garden is a great way to learn about planting and taking care of plants. Of course, if this is your first garden you’ll want to be sure you prepare your soil correctly and then buy and plant the correct kinds of plants. There is a wide variety of different plants you can try in a vegetable garden. From herbs to tomatoes and peppers, there is much to try. And you don’t have to plan them all in the ground – they can grow in pots as well.

Once you’re growing your vegetables, you can start collecting them as they ripen and bring them into your kitchen to include in your real cooking games. Having fruits and vegetables at your disposal will make your food tastier and healthier as well.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Cooking Games: Fruit Sticks


Fruit sticks are a great way to get more fruit in your diet. They are simple to make and a fun way to eat the healthier choices. To make fruit sticks, you’ll need a collection of your favorite fruits and wooden skewers.

Start by slicing the fruit into bite size chunks. Separate large blueberries and grapes as well as these will be easier to skewer when it’s time to actually put the fruit on the stick. Citrus fruits don’t work as well as fruits with a bit more substance to them, so opt for melons, apples, pears, grapes and blueberries. Watermelon, blackberries and orange slices are likely not your best choices.

Grab a skewer and start with a hard piece of fruit such as apple or pear pieces. Skewer the fruit leaving about an inch at the end of the wooden stick. Keep adding fruit in an usual pattern to make it a bit more random and enticing. Place the completed skewers on a plate side by side to make them appealing. Fruit sticks are a great way to eat fruit on a picnic or at a family bar-be-que. They also make a nice dish to take to a potluck style dinner.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Cooking Games: Tea Sandwiches


Most teens aren’t taking tea on a regular basis, but that doesn’t mean you can’t throw a more grown-up version of a tea party and include tea sandwiches. Making tea sandwiches is relatively simple.

Gather Ingredients for Cooking Games
To make tea sandwiches, you’ll need:

  • Bread
  • Chicken salad
  • Tuna salad
  • Toothpicks
  • Lettuce
  • Tomatoes

Making Tea Sandwiches
To make tea sandwiches start by cutting the crust off your bread. Traditional tea sandwiches are made on soft white bread, but you can use whole wheat as well. Cut the crusts off to make squares, or go a step further and make small triangles.

Then you’ll place a small scoop of chicken salad or tuna salad on a piece of bread. Top the scoop with a piece of lettuce and a slice of tomato before adding the top piece of bread. Use a toothpick to hold the small sandwich together. Present the sandwiches on a nice platter along with tea and sweets and enjoy!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Resolving Common Problems with Cooking Games


Even the best games have problems and cooking games are no exception. Cooking games are great in many ways, but there are certainly some things I’d like for the game developers to consider as they create future cooking games.

Cooking games need more variety. There needs to be more to cooking games than you can find right now. Cooking games are great, don’t get me wrong, but think of the many kinds of dress up games out there. There just aren’t very many things you can do with cooking games. Someone creative needs to be out there thinking up new solutions.

Cooking games should have less repetition. Rather than doing the same thing over and over again, you should have the opportunity to try something new on each round of the cooking game. Rather than just flipping more pancakes, perhaps add some eggs and bacon to the mix.

Cooking games should span the globe. I think the cooking games we enjoy online should take dishes and practices from all over the world. I might not know much about authentic cuisine from every country in the world, but I’d sure like to learn more about it.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Problems with Cooking Games


Cooking games don’t get nearly as much attention as they deserve. I love cooking games for the skills they teach as well as the fun you can have while playing. Of course, if you’re into cooking games, you know that there are some quirks that might could stand improvement.

Cooking games lack variety. I’d love to see something come out in cooking games that is really new and fascinating. Cooking games get a bit similar across the board. Although there is some variety, I’d really love to see something truly new and different.

Cooking games get repetitive. If you like to try new things with every round, cooking games might be a bit frustrating. In cooking games, the objective usually stays the same, but the intensity changes as you progress from one level to the next.

Cooking games aren’t multicultural. I’d like to see more cooking games that teach me about other cultures rather than baking cakes, pizzas and barbeque. Why can’t I make gyros or fajitas or something? Surely there are other things in the world that we can implement into a cooking game.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Cooking Game and Health Concerns


There are many health concerns in the kitchen when playing cooking games. Cooking games often involve cutting food items and using heat. When you play cooking games, you must be aware of the health concerns that are always present in the kitchen.

Bacteria
When you prepare food items, you must always be aware of bacteria. Bacteria are ever present in most meat items before they are cooked. If you place that uncooked meat on a cutting board and then place another food item on the same cutting board, the bacteria transfers from one to another. If you eat it, you might become very ill.

Germs
Germs are just as rampant as the bacteria in the kitchen. A sick individual who touches a counter might transfer his germs to anyone who touches that same counter top. Germs and bacteria travel very easily through air and through contact. Using clean knives and a clean cutting board will help to reduce these potentially dangerous items. You should also clean regularly using anti-bacterial cleansing agents.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Cooking Games – Fruit Sandwiches


Fruit is always a tasty treat, and making it special is fun. Creating fruit sandwiches is simple enough once you have the right kinds of fruit and other ingredients.

Ingredients for Cooking Games:
Apples
Oranges
Kiwi Fruit
Strawberries
Grapes
Toothpicks

Creating Fruit Sandwiches
Begin by slicing the fruit into thin slices. Slice the apples into full slices cutting across the entire apple. These two pieces will be the top and the bottom of your fruit sandwich. Peel the orange and break the orange into slices. Slice the kiwi into round slices and thin as you can make them. The strawberries should be full slices as well. Cut the grapes in half.

Place an apple slice on the work surface and place a tooth pick in the center. Thread a kiwi slice onto the toothpick followed by a slice of strawberry. Place an orange slice next followed by a strawberry and then kiwi. Top the creation off with another slice of apple. Use the tip of the toothpick to hold the grape at the very top of the sandwich like a garnish.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Cooking Games and Safety


When playing cooking games in your home, be very aware of safety precautions. Often online cooking games fail to show you the full range of possible dangers. The fun of flipping hamburgers and making pizzas in a cartoon doesn’t include burns or sharp objects, but games in the kitchen do.

Heat
Be very careful around heat sources. Burners, pans that have been on the stove, the oven, and especially steam from opening pots and items cooked in the microwave can burn. Boiling water in the microwave can heat the water to an extremely high temperature and the steam from a bag of popcorn fresh from the microwave can have damaging results. Always use caution when dealing with any form of heat.

Sharp Objects
Be wary of sharp objects as well. Knives, scissors and open can lids are common items in a kitchen and all can give you a nasty slice if you’re not paying attention and being carefully. Keep knives sharpened as a sharp knife is less likely to slip on food as you try to cut.

Bacteria
A hidden danger in the kitchen is the amount of bacteria that can grow on surfaces. Clean well before and after all food preparation to prevent the growth and transmission of dangerous bacteria.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Cooking Games – Dirt Cake


A favorite of children, dirt cake is easy to make and just gross enough to be delicious.

Gather Cooking Game Ingredients
To make dirt cake, you’ll need:

  • Chocolate sandwich cookies
  • Instant chocolate pudding
  • Gummy worms

Creating a Dirt Cake
To make a dirt cake, begin by fixing the instant pudding according to its directions. As the chocolate pudding is in the fridge cooling off and setting, begin working on the “dirt.”

Place about twenty chocolate cookies into a very sturdy plastic bag. The kind with a zipper is most effective. Squeeze the extra air out of the bag as you seal it. Use a rolling pin to begin crushing the cookies. Roll the pin back and forth and use the back of a spoon to help break up harder sections. Continue breaking and rolling the cookies until you have a bag full of dark crumbs that resemble dirt.

In your serving dish, sprinkle a layer of crumbs and then spoon in the pudding. Smooth the pudding flat and then add the remainder of the dirt on top of the “cake.” Stick gummy worms out of the cake at random to create a more dirt-like effect and serve!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Cooking Games and Snacks


The best way to practice cooking games is with a series of snacks. When you play cooking games online, you might be grilling up a huge meal of hot dogs and hamburgers, but when you are playing cooking games in your own kitchen, you need to take it slow. Snacks are a good way to do this.

The easiest snacks to start with are things that don’t require any heat. Try making fruit salad or crackers and cheese. Use cookie cutters to make fun shapes for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When you are allowed to use heat, you can move on to items such as microwave popcorn and noodles, but with heat comes additional safety measures that you need to follow.

While I like hot snacks as much as the next person, I’m a bigger fan of cold snacks. Why not make an ice cream sundae on a hot day or create a fruit smoothie using frozen fruit and the blender. Learning to measure ingredients and prepare any sort of food in the kitchen is a big deal and means you’re well on your way to future cooking greatness.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Cooking Games – Food Safety


When you play cooking games at home, you must be very aware of the safety aspect that go into the meal preparation. There are many dangers in the kitchen and dirty knives are just the beginning.

Knife Safety- Being safe with a knife is essential when you start cooking. Learn how to cut properly and ask for help if you’re not sure of the best way to cut. Always cut away from yourself and keep your fingers well away from the blade. Take your time to be sure you know what you’re doing and use a sharp knife. A dull knife will be more likely to slide and cause injuries.

Heat Safety – There is plenty of hot in the kitchen, so you’ll need to be careful about how you handle hot items. Always use a pot holder when picking up heated objects from the stove, oven and microwave. And remember that steam can burn as easily as hot water or a hot pot, so lean back when opening lids.

Bacteria Safety – The number of bacteria that show up on surfaces, sponges, clothes and fingers in the kitchen are astounding. Keep things clean to prevent disease from spreading. And wash your hands before and after you cook.