This week’s lesson is about cooking spray. Always spray a cooking sheet or fry pan before baking cake cookies and omelets. Cooking spray prevents food from sticking from the surface you are cooking it in. Cooking sprays contain fewer calories than vegetable oils because they are applied in a thinner layer. Two of the most popular cooking sprays are PAM and Crisco.
This week I made cake cookies, a recipe I found on the Pillsbury cake box. Everything went relatively well, I was successful with the blender something that had been the bane of my existence for many years. I was able to mix everything together without it all flying around the kitchen making a huge mess. I than evenly spaced the cookies onto a cookie sheet and placed it in the oven. The first time I cooked the cookies for 10 minutes, but I learned that is too long and ended up burning the cookies. The second time I did not cook them long enough. The third time was the charm however, I cooked them the right amount of time. The problem came when I tried to get the cookies off the sheet, they were stuck. Which is where the lesson of the day comes from; you must spray the sheet with cooking oil in order to prevent the cookies from sticking. I also learned that the time on the box is just a general idea and that you need to check on cookies to make sure that they are not burning. All, in all I think I was very successful in making my cookies.
The second thing I made was an omelet. I made it on how I thought I had seen my mom make omelets for years. I whisked an egg up and poured it with a little bit of water into the frying pan. I never realized the arm muscle you need to whisk something. I added green and red peppers, onions, and cheese, and allowed it to cook for a few minutes. Than I tried to flip it over, however, I did not use cooking spray, and as we saw from the lesson cooking spray keeps things from sticking. It ended up being a blob of some weird egg concoction. I over cooked it and it was a little burnt. My friend, being a good sport, still tried it. He took one bit and was done. I tried it a second time and using the cooking spray and cooking it not as long turned out much better. I am happy to say I can cook omelets now.
So remember this week’s lesson, cooking spray prevents sticking and cooking time is more of judgment than an actual number.
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7 comments:
Let me just start out with saying that cooking spray has to be one of the greatest inventions ever! (Ok, maybe not ever, but it’s pretty far up there.) I cook all the time, using my cooking spray of course :), and I absolutely hate it when I run out. Because then I have to sit there and either use oil or shortening to grease the pan. If you do that, you have to spread it out and make sure that it gets every where. With cooking spray, zip, zip, and you’re done! It’s great that you have someone to taste your foods no matter what. When I first got married and started cooking, my meals came out, well… like crap. But my husband would always taste them. (I’m still kind of surprised that my cooking in the beginning didn’t seriously harm him!) One thing that I’ve learned about cooking is that it is a feel/taste/learning process. I am to the point that I no longer measure things (unless I’m baking,) I just look and toss it in. Yea, I’ve made some pretty horrible things in the past that way! I just wanted to congratulate you on your success with the omelet the second time around. I look forward to reading more of your blogs. See if maybe you can teach this old dog some new tricks… :)
Oh, and when it comes to cookies, I always seem to have one pan of almost overdone ones, one pan of almost underdone ones, and the one pan of just right ones! LOL
Marjorie C.
Hi Erin,
Cooking is one of my hobbies. I always like to try new recipes.I use cooking spray a lot, because it makes my life easier by avoiding sticking. I am happy for you to be able to make some tasty cookies,omelettes, and I hope you enjoy them. Remember that, practice makes perfect. Therefore keep cooking and you'd be surprised of your skills.When I am baking,cooking spray is the first item my daughter will hand to me, and spraying is her favorite job.
During those eight weeks, I am hoping to learn new tricks from your delicious recipes.
You know, some people just have a fear of cooking spray, and it took my husband watching Alton Brown (on the Food Channel) to learn that cooking spray is ok to use. Why do you think people have such an adversion to it, and what got you to start using it?
Well, to comment on your site and julie's comment I have this vivid memory of someone in my family overusing the crisco and the stuff she baked tasted like grease basically. We were still supposed to eat it, with disasterous results. So I have an aversion to cooking spray and grease. I even once mistakenly tried to bake a birthday cake without putting oil in, it was a bit flat. I like your site though, as it will be one where we can check your progress. Keep including the before and after results. I can sympathise with most fo the before, but probably will never master the after ones.
I'll start by saluting you for sharing this experiance with the rest of the class and the world in general. I,too, am a little "cooking challenged" and I think if people found out how many times I almost burned down my apartment I would be banned from kitchens all together.
The cookies in the hyperlink you provided looked awfully tastey. If you are so inclined to bake any brownies in the future I think you should probably bring some into class. Not just for me, mind you! I was just thinking about all of our fellow students!
Anyway, the blog looks great. The colors compliment each other well (kind of reminds me of Easter). Your writing is very clear and your train of thought remained on track throughout the post. Although I didn't spend forever proofreading your post, the grammer and spelling looked dead on. Everything said and done... good job!
Bob
I recently started using cooking spray. I am a fan of olive oil i use it for everythin almost. You should try it!! Cooking just takes alot of time and patience. Once you get that down you will be alright. Another thing that will help you is buy a timer to set it on the counter when it comes to baking. You will hear the it when it goes off.
Hey! You are making me hungry talking about all these things! I must say, whenever I have free time, I am always in the kitching making brownies, cakes, cookies, and even trifles!! And yes, I love that cooking spray! It makes life a whole lot easier for people to cook. If I am out of cooking spray, I usually put a little bit oil on the pan(s) and they actually work just the same as a cooking spray would! I wanted to ask you, what is your favorite food and can you cook your favorite food? How much experience did you have with cooking before this project? Also, what motivated you to write about cooking? I mean, have you always wanted to learn but never had the chance to or do you really enjoy cooking? You know, sometimes I regret knowing how to cook because if I ever want cake, brownies, or anything that is fatty, I just go in the kitchen and make it.
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