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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.