Frozen Cooking Tips for Beef, Chicken, and Pork

“Oh no, I didn't thaw the chicken! What will I make for family dinner?” If this has been you, calm your mind. This article will show you what you need to do when you've got something frozen (such as pork, beef, or chicken) and you need to cook it for an important meal that night. 

We all know you love juicy chicken, tasty pork, and delicious beef. Don't stress about your meat sources being frozen. Using these techniques properly, you'll get to have the type of meal you would have had, even if the meat sources were unfrozen from the beginning.  

Tips for Beef

You might have wanted to prepare steak, but your beef is completely frozen. Don’t stress your mind. Just get it out of the fridge. Put it in a bowl and then put it under running water. That’s the trick for beef. After it is no longer frozen, then you can carry on and use it for whichever purposes you had in mind before. Like I stated earlier, these are just tips. 

Tips for Chicken 

When you have frozen chicken that you would like to use to make a meal, just remove it from the freezer and put it inside a stock. Relax, I’ll explain what I mean by a stock. A stock refers to a combination of different ingredients like peppers, chili, seasoning, salt, and others ingredients you prefer. After you put your frozen chicken inside the stock, you start turning and turning. Make sure the amount of water you made use of for your stock is not so much. This is because the chicken itself has its water, which is frozen. 

After it unfreezes, it'll add to the amount of water available for you to keep cooking. This way you've got what you wanted and you'll get a very tasty juicy chicken. You could also take the meat out of the freezer in the morning and place it in a crockpot to cook on low for 8 hours. You’ll have tender chicken ready, just in time for dinner.

Tips for Pork 

For pork, you can just continue cooking it as you would have done if it was not frozen. Make sure the amount of water you'll be using isn't too much, because the frozen pork has frozen water, which would add to whatever you're cooking.

These are the tips you need to cook your delicious, juicy, and epic pork, chicken, and beef. I hope you enjoy your meal!

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Photo by Benjamin Faust on Unsplash

 

How to Set Up a Windowsill Herb Garden in 4 Easy Steps

Whether you’re craving a fresh summer salad or about to make a batch of homemade pesto, a windowsill herb garden is the perfect complement to any well-stocked kitchen. And believe it or not, it’s pretty easy! Follow the four easy steps below and you’ll be on your way to growing fresh herbs all year-round.

1. Pick Your Place.

First things first – you’ve got to find the perfect spot for your windowsill herb garden, and remember this: the sunnier the better! While some plants need less, the more natural sunlight herbs can soak up, the more they will thrive. For your new herb garden, pick a windowsill that gets at least six hours of sunlight every day. If not, you’ll end up with drooping, dwindling plants that produce herbs with little flavor … if they produce them at all!

2. Pick Your Plants.

This is the fun part. Head on over to your local nursery or home improvement store and pick out the herbs you want to grow in your windowsill herb garden. We’ll list a few suggestions of what to plant below, but first, we need to address an age-old question: will you start your indoor garden with seeds or already-grown plants?

Seeds vs. Plants – Which Is Best for You?

There’s really no hard and fast rule when it comes to creating a windowsill herb garden with seeds or plants – it really just comes down to preference. With that being said, here are a few things to consider when deciding where to start:

●      Variety – When buying plants, you’re often limited to what is available at your local nursery, while there are countless options when it comes to buying seeds. With just a tiny packet, you can choose the type and even variety of herb you want to plant. Seeds are definitely the winner if you want variety.

●      Time – Obviously, it’s going to take a considerable amount of time to grow your herb garden from scratch if you start with seeds, as opposed to simply repotting a plant you pick up at the store and is ready to use right away. When it comes to time, plants are a better bet.

●      Risk – While it’s always a risk that your herbs won’t make it past a few weeks (especially if this is your first crack at it), the risk of losing your herbs is considerably lower when you buy plants that have already survived the germination stage. With seeds, you’ll have to be even more aware of that delicate balance of when to water or how much sunlight to give. If you’re looking for low risk, plants win here too.

●      Cost – Take one trip to your nursery and you’ll know who wins here. A packet of seeds can cost just a couple dollars (at the most), while plants can be considerably more expensive – you are paying someone to do the work for you, after all! Seeds get first place if you’re trying to save some cash.

Have you decided if you’re starting your windowsill herb garden from scratch or from plants? Great! Let’s move on to the best part: picking your herbs! Here are some popular herbs that are easy to grow, easy to maintain and easy to eat!

 

●      Basil is the king of windowsill herbs, as it’s relatively simple to grow and sustain. Plus, you can buy a basil plant at pretty much any grocery store for a few bucks and get started right away! Basil plants like lots of sun and warmth, so keep yours out of drafty areas and on a south-facing windowsill where it’s likely to get the most sun.

●      Oregano is a relatively hardy plant and adds a great flavor to everything from pasta sauce to salad. Similar to basil, your oregano plant is going to want lots of sun, so make sure it’s in a south-facing window as well. A great way to start your oregano plant – take a clip off an existing plant and pot it!

●      Cilantro is somewhat of a polarizing herb – some people love it and some people hate it –  but if you’re one of the people who loves it, it’s a great herb to add to your windowsill herb garden. This one likes lots of light, but not direct sunlight, so consider setting it up in an east-facing window that will provide direct morning sunlight but lesser light as the day goes on.

●      Rosemary pulls double duty as a delicious herb and a natural air freshener! This little plant loves to get started from a cutting of a larger plant and grows best in direct sunlight – so it’s back to the south-facing window next to basil and oregano for this baby.

●      Thyme is particularly popular in summer dishes, which will likely make it one of the most used plants in your windowsill herb garden. Give your cilantro some company and plant your thyme on a east-facing sill for optimal growth.

3. Pick Your Pots.

Once you’ve determined what you’ll be growing in your windowsill herb garden, purchasing the right pots is just as important. You’ll definitely want to use individual pots for each herb so you can give each unique plant the unique care it needs. Be sure every container has drainage holes and sits on a waterproof saucer, and that it’s large enough to give your herbs room to grow. You can find great windowsill herb garden kits all over the web … even ones that start small and expand as your plant grows!

4. Pick Your Food!

This is the best part of all! As your windowsill herb garden grows and matures, enjoy the fruits of your labor with fresh herbs all year-round! Will you throw together a quick and delicious pasta primavera or succulent marinara sauce? How about a perfect caprese salad or savory roasted potatoes? Maybe you’ll even go crazy with a refreshing summer cocktail that will make everyone swoon. Whatever you choose, you’ll have all the herbs you need thanks to your trusty windowsill herb garden!

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Photo by Kaufmann Mercantile on Unsplash

The incredible journey with Uncle Bens, Bens Beginners, and Mars

It started as a small task....cook with your family and post a video.

But what it ended up being has rocked me to my core.

Let's start at the beginning:
Reese and I are avid cookers. I honestly need to start blogging more of our cooks since he loves to be in the kitchen. He loves it so much that I bought him a professional chef hat and coat last year for his birthday. He started to put it on while cooking. He refers to the cooking cartoon, Ratatouille. And we will say, "Your sleeves look like you threw up on them!" And we laugh since the mark of a good chef is messy apron, clean sleeves. (I do need to get him an apron!)

One day we were looking up recipes. It started in Pinterest and then we had some Uncle Bens Rice so we decided to look up on their website to see if they had any inspiring ideas for a quick dinner.

What we found was a contest. The rules seemed simple. Cook a meal with your family, film it, and then post it onto their website. 

That day we took to pinterest and found a recipe that included ribs. We had some amazing ribs in the freezer and we wanted to use them. They were from our own beef. It was important to show who we were in the video. We are ranchers! 

We filmed that Saturday and it took all day. These were some of the videos that didn't make the cut because we had a limit of 3 minutes. When we had the first video done it was 15 minutes! :) Editing was in order!

We had a blast! But then after reading the rules (I don't recommend starting something without reading the rules first!) we discovered we had portions of the video in vertical shooting. Back to the drawing board! We went and bought the ingredients again and then shot it again. It only took two hours of filming the second time. We had it down! 

I went to upload the video to Uncle Bens and our school in Boswell could not come up. We couldn't submit the video. But we stuck with it and I contacted Uncle Bens. They referred me to Bens Beginners and the conversation started to get us on there. The result was we were able to post our video under independent film. They were great in responding back to me! (Next year we will get it to where Boswell will be on there since there will be many more submissions from our tiny little town!)

I talked to our principal, Mr. Edge. He gave us the thumbs up. Then...it was all out marketing! Here is where my story gets interesting!

My strength: Connectedness. (Gallup Pole test) which means I find connections between people and try to bring them in. I do not like people being not included so I try to bring those people together with often odd connections. :) 

What does Reese's video have? We are ranchers, we support agriculture, Reese has a cleft lip and palate, he is a young chef, we live in Oklahoma. 

There were several things I could go on! I started on posting a blog to gain awareness. I used the PR Press release and added a little bit of my own twist. Then...I went nuts. 

I used the social sites: Facebook, Twitter, G+, Instagram, Pinterest

I found a group of Cleft Lip and Palate kiddos. This was a closed group. I sent an invitation to join the group and several days later they accepted me. I posted Reese's story. 

That is where the things got interesting. We made friends. We made many friends. Friends that are going through the same things Reese and I went through years ago. I saw people's raw emotions about their children going through surgeries. 

On October 15, my daughters birthday, I saw a post about a little girl named Kamry, Supergirl. They were from Springfield, Missouri. She was just born. She was diagnosed in utero with Tristomy 13. It's a rare chromosome disorder. The result was she also had a cleft lip and palate. That is how one of the members posted about her story in the cleft lip and palate. You can see her story here: https://www.facebook.com/PrayForKamrySuperGirl

I watched the supergirl's story unfold as I kept telling people to vote for Reese. We met a chef in Oklahoma City, a great group of Canadians from Crime Stoppers, and three ladies who diligently voted for my son on twitter. 

Many people posted about 'good job, voted, congrats'....we did receive one message from a child around Reese's age which cut like a knife. He had not read the message and reposted saying some ugly choice words about my son's looks. 

The dagger hit my heart. I posted to the cleft lip group and said, 'Should I intervene'? They all said yes so I found out the school where the child attended. (Once again why children should not be unmonitored on the computer--because with a little research, your child can be found). I told the counselor about the situation, asked her guidance on how she can handle it, and just said, "Please educate this child on what a cleft is..."

The response I received was they contacted the child and educated him about what a cleft was. He took down his hateful post and replaced it with "Poor kid, I hope he lives a long life." ...better and perhaps I stopped a future bully.

Keep voting...Keep voting...The days were long on the computer reaching out to strangers.

We had one TV Host retweet to his 32,000 followers, appeared in various publications on the net, and gained awareness about what a cleft truly was. A blogger wants to feature Reese on her blog by using him as a success story!

Kamry kept fighting her battle through our competition. 

I saw her little feet and they were adorable....as her perfect little face. 

Prayers were said as I kept tweeting. I shared my advice to mothers going through surgery. How they could tell if there was infection. My advice was being heard through the group! All 12 surgeries that my son had endured allowed me to be an asset to the group. In addition, most were from the UK and Europe. I met also beautiful, young people who had clefts. One young lady befriended me on Facebook and she speaks Swedish, English, and Spanish. She is a true success story.  

I remember Reese's face when he was born. I remember all the scariness I faced when I was 20. I had only wished I had a resource like the cleft group I had just found.

(Reese, 4 months of age)

Then on October 25, I read a post...in disbelief I re-read it from Kamry, the Supergirl. 

 I reread the words, "She passed away..."My heart remained heavy as I continued praying for them throughout the day. I prayed for peace....

I also thanked Kamry. I thanked her for coming to this earth for 9 short days. For allowing many people to be touched by her story. I looked at Reese playing with my three year old daughter. I felt blessed for all the trials and tribulations that we had gone through and survived. 

I hugged the kiddos closer that night. I kissed them and there was a peace as I shut down the computer. 

A friend told me at church, "There is a divine reason for everything."

If we are selected as finalists, voting will begin on November 18, 2013!
We will keep everyone posted!

The reason we joined the competition was just to show the world how amazing my son could cook. And it ended up being so much more. 

I was able to show the world my amazing, success story: my son, Reese. 

And I was able to meet extraordinary folks around the world. 

And one beautiful Super Angel, Kamry.

LOCAL FAMILY IN RUNNING FOR UNCLE BEN’S® BEN’S BEGINNERS™ COOKING CONTEST, SEEKING ONLINE VOTES FROM COMMUNITY

Reese Daily knew that he loved to cook. He had a "palate" for food! But this has special meaning since Reese was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. He's been through 12 surgeries. That doesn't stop him from doing what he loves and cooking is one of those things. Reese Daily’s family, residents of Boswell, Oklahoma have entered the UNCLE BEN’S ® Ben’s Beginners™ Cooking Contest, a movement designed to help children learn to make healthier choices, at an early age, by getting them interested in cooking.
Parents with children who are in kindergarten through 8th grade were asked to submit a home video that showed the family together in the kitchen introducing a rice-based dish they prepared and discussing their experience cooking together. The contest received entries from families throughout the U.S. In an effort to help the Daily family strengthen their score and give them an opportunity to be chosen as a finalist, they are asking the community to vote for the video they submitted titled Reese’s Hawaiian Style Short Ribs. The link to the video is athttp://bit.ly/1aiYOLU. If selected as a grand prize winner the Daily family will receive $15,000 cash and a $30,000 cafeteria makeover for Boswell Public School. Two members of the Daily family will also appear on “The Rachael Ray Show!”
From October 9 through October 27, 2013, individuals can view all the contest videos and vote for their favorite by visitingwww.unclebens.com and searching for the recipe name. Individuals are encouraged to vote once per 24 hours. For more information on the Ben’s Beginners™ Cooking Contest, visitwww.bensbeginnerscontest.com.

Please share and let's see how many votes this young man will get!

My amazing son!

My son once again has amazed me! For those of you that have missed my previous posts, he has a bilateral cleft lip and palate. He decided this last year to once again enter public school since we moved to Boswell, Oklahoma. He wanted to give the kids' one more chance to be nice and we found the greatest, most amazing kids here in Boswell, Oklahoma! He has quickly made friends in this small town! He has competed and won medals for speeches in 4H! He jumped at the chance to help his school!

Reese entered the UNCLE BEN'S® Ben's Beginners™ Cooking Program by making a short cooking video. Vote for his video and help him get in the running for great prizes, like $15,000 for our family and a $30,000 cafeteria makeover for his Boswell school. 

http://bit.ly/1aiYOLU    SEE HIS VIDEO NOW and VOTE STARTING OCT 9!!!

Vote daily at the link above, after October 9, so please bookmark his video page and set an alarm on your phone to help remind you to vote for Reese! 

Please help spread the word. He even cut down branches to the Boswell sign so he could make this video! That in itself shows community pride because you couldn't see the sign before! 

I will send out a reminder the day of voting!

Autumn Daily

PS. Watch his video RIGHT NOW! It's only 3 min long!