Recommended Reading
Wild Strawberries and Cream
by Jo-Anne Clark Brown

This is a must have book for anyone who loves strawberries. The book features delicious recipes including breakfasts, main courses, salads, desserts, frozen desserts, beverages, and jellies all made with strawberries. There are two sections filled with over 30 full-color photos of some of the recipes. Thankfully, the recipes use common ingredients and are fairly easy to make.

(courtesy: Amazon.com)


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"S" Is For...

Sauté:
To cook small quantities of food in very hot fat, butter or oil, or combination, until brown or cooked through, it is one of the most important cooking techniques.

Scald:
To heat liquid to just below the boiling point; also to cover fruits, meat, etc. with boiling water for a few minutes.

Scallop:
See escallop. Also a shellfish.

Score:
To cut halfway through; for example the fatty covering of ham is scored before baking; the outer rind of a cucumber is scored with a fork.

Scrape:
To remove outer skin or flesh of a vegetable or fruit, holding the knife with blade at right angles against the food and moving it back and forth in a scraping, not a cutting, action.

Sear:
To brown the surface of food, usually meat, by exposing it to high heat for a comparatively short period of time.

Self-Raising Flour:
Made from plain flour with added baking powder. Adding two level teaspoons of baking powder to each cup of flour and sifting until well mixed can make it.

Semolina:
Cereals reduced to granules by course milling.

Sherbet:
See ice. White of egg or milk added to ice mixture classes .

Shortening:
Fat used for baking.

Simmer:
To cook just below the boiling point; only occasional bubble appears on the liquids surface when it simmers; temperature at sea level for simmering is below 200 F.

Skewer:
Long pin of metal or wood on which food is held while cooking; also smaller pins used to flatten pieces of meat or sections of poultry together while cooking.

Skim:
To remove fat or other materials that float on top of a liquid with a skimmer or spoon.

Skimmed Milk:
Milk from which cream has been removed.

Spatula:
Flexible, wide-blade knife with a rounded end, used to loosen cakes, etc. after baking.

Steam:
To cook above, and surround by, steam rising from boiling water. Steamers usually contain a rack on which the pan or mold of food rests while it cooks in the steam.

Steep:
To allow a solid substance to stand in liquid just below the boiling point, while color, flavor and other qualities are extracted from it; for example, tea leaves are steeped in boiled water in making tea; see infusion.

Stew:
To simmer gently in a liquid with a variety of vegetables and flavorings.

Stock:
Liquid in which foods have been cooked.

Suet:
The dry hard fat from around lamb and beef kidneys. It should always be finely chopped before adding to any recipe, otherwise it is indigestible. Beef suet is often use in steamed or baked puddings.

Sweet Butter:
Sweet butter is commonly used to describe unsalted butter. In regular recipes, you may use salted butter if you like salt, but in baking it's important to use unsalted or sweet butter when the call for it.

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"R" TIPS

SEPARATING CABBAGE LEAVES

About once every week, pull out all your leftovers from the fridge. To separate cabbage leaves, as for making cabbage rolls, etc.: core head of cabbage and place in freezer overnight. The next day, it will be very easy to separate leaves without cooking them or boiling them first. After separating, let them defrost for easier pliability.

Check out more COOKING tips in our Virtual Tipbook!

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SMOOTH PEANUT BUTTER PLAYDOUGH

2 cups smooth peanut butter
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups dried milk
2/3 cups honey

Mix all ingredients until thoroughly combined.
Storage: When not using, MUST be stored in an airtight container

Check out more family fun ideas in the Family FunBook!