Prostate cancer is something that a lot of men fear, but don’t talk about. Just like many other “fears,” men really don’t talk about these things. But maybe it is about time that they did – prostate cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer in the United States today. While many men with the condition do not exhibit symptoms, in cases wherein the symptoms occur, it can get really bad. That is why it is important that information be disseminated effectively.

Some celebrity chefs agree with this – they have been recruited to collaborate on a project which involves writing a cookbook featuring recipes that may help combat or prevent prostate cancer. Some of the celebrity chefs involved are Raymond Blanc and Antony Worrall Thompson. Dubbed The Prostate Cancer Care cookbook, it features recipes making use of ingredients that have been scientifically proven to prevent prostate cancer. These include broccoli, garlic, and tomatoes (as well as derivative products such as tomato sauce).

Collaborating with the celebrity chefs is Professor Margaret Rayman, from the University of Surrey. She says that it is important to incorporate these food items into one’s regular diet in order to take pro-active measures against prostate cancer. She goes on to say that while eating these dishes is not a guarantee against prostate cancer, it is definitely better than doing nothing and waiting for the doctor to tell you that you have got the disease. The professor is also working on cookbooks focusing on other conditions such as breast and bowel cancer.

I am sure that you’ve heard of the Iron Chef’s burger book, as I like to call it, by now. If you do not like burgers, then forget reading this post. But then again, who does not like burgers??? I mean, there must be a reason that a chef of Bobby Flay’s standing spent time and money writing an entire cookbook about burgers!

So how has the book fared so far? Unfortunately, I have only seen a couple of recipes from it – thanks to the Internet – but I have not had the chance to actually get the book for myself. I was reading Robin Currie’s review of the cookbook, however, and I am pretty convinced that I should get my own copy. The juiciest parts of the review:

The book, much like the author, is fun, relaxed, straightforward, and easy to like. It includes burger recipes for ground beef, turkey, salmon, and tuna; fries, chips, shakes, and condiments. It gives terrific information on how to make the actual burger (not too thick, and use your thumb to make a dent in the middle of the patty to ensure even cooking, so it won’t puff up in the center.)

But the book is really all about the toppings, offering dozens of ideas for branching out from the familiar lettuce and tomato and for using some regional/cultural creativity.

Aside from info on how to make the patty, I like the possibilities that the book is said to provide with regard to toppings. I love everything on my burger and I can’t wait to discover other things to put in it!

I guess I am off to find this cookbook.

For many people – and that includes yours truly – the best time to make a really good meal is on the weekend. This is because you have enough time to spend in taking care to prepare an elaborate meal. During the week, you normally only have less than an hour to make a quick meal. I suppose that is the beauty of Gordon Ramsay’s Sunday Lunch cookbook, which helps you come up with some of the best weekend meals you can ever make.

Gordon Ramsay is no stranger to good meals and he shares his expertise in a simple manner. The cookbook is described by Amazon as:

Gordon Ramsay’s aim is to get us all cooking up a storm and sitting down at the table with friends and family to share lunch on Sundays and at other leisure times. In the second series of “The F Word”, his highly acclaimed topical food programme, he visits people all over the UK of all ages, backgrounds and ethnic origins to help them cook up a meal for family and/or friends. These range from traditional Sunday roasts to lighter summer fare, from easy 30-minute meals to Italian, Indian and Moroccan influenced family feasts. As always, Gordon is there to help the home cook at every stage – buying the right ingredients, preparation and serving and helping to co-ordinate the cooking of several dishes to arrive on the table simultaneously.

I do not have my own copy of the cookbook but from what I have seen in previews, the recipes are quite simple, especially if you have at least the tiniest experience in the kitchen. Who knows, Santa might bring me one tonight?

Forget the gingerbread house. Your holiday dessert should be simple to prepare, so you can spend more time with your family (that is what Christmas is about, right?). Here’s a quick chocoalte mousse recipe from Nigella Lawson’s cookbook, Nigella Express: 130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast.

Nigella says that most mousses need to be made the day before, to allow the egg yolk to set. Here’s her “instant” alternative. She does away with eggs, which not only saves time but allows you to safely feed it to young children.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) soft butter
9 oz best-quality semisweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup hot water from a recently boiled kettle
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Pour the marshmallows, butter, chocolate, and water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
2. Melt over gentle heat, stirring occassionally. Remove from heat and let cool.
3 Whip the cream with the vanilla until it’s got a thick consistency. Fold it into the cooled chocolate mixture.
4. Pour into individual dishes or cups and chill until ready to serve.

Watch Nigella’s regular TV show, Nigella Express on the BBC Channel for more recipes and tips.

This delicious recipe (said to be Oprah’s favourite) from the cookbook “Taste Pure and Simple“, Nischan interestingly uses fresh vanilla bean. Not something you would expect from a corn chowder but Michel Nischan explains quite endearingly why he thought of the unlikely combination:

“This recipe proves a belief of mine. When you cook with ingredients that sound good in your head, they will taste good, too. I feel this way about vanilla and corn, which may seem like a strange pair, but once you try this combination, you�ll like it.”

Sweet Corn and Vegetable Chowder

Serves 4

About 2-4 fresh ears corn, shucked
1 Yukon Gold Potato
� split vanilla bean, or � teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 pounds fresh or frozen edamame, fava, or lima beans (about 1 cup shelled)
1 to 2 tablespoons water
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
� cup shredded spinach, sorrel, or arugula
1 tablespoon julienned lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Preheat over to 450�F. Place 2 ears of corn directly on the over rack and roast, turning occasionally, until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. When cool, cut the roasted corn kernels off the cob. You should have about 1 � cups.

Meanwhile, cook the potato in salted boiling water until tender in the center when pierced, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain and let cool to the touch, Slip off the skin and cut the potato into �-inch dice.

With a large, sharp knife, cut the kernels off the remaining ears of corn. Run the kernels through a vegetable juicer. You should have about 4 cups of juice. Combine the corn juice and the vanilla bean in a medium nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring constantly so the liquid doesn�t curdle. The natural starch in the juice will thicken it to a sauce consistency. The degree of thickness will depend on the amount of starch in the corn. If the soup is too thick, thin it with a little water or lemon juice. Remove from the heat.

Fish out the vanilla bean and, with the tip of a small knife, scrape the seeds from the bean into the soup; discard the pod. If the soup appears a little broken, don�t worry. Blend the soup in a blender at medium speed for a silky-smooth consistency. Return the soup to the pot.

Put the roasted corn kernels, beans, and potato in a medium saut� pan or skillet with the water. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for a few minutes until the vegetables are hot. Pour off the water and add the vegetables to the soup. Stir in the shredded spinach or other greens, the lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

Note: If the corn milk curdles during cooking, don�t worry. Beat the curdled milk with an electric mixer set on medium speed until it returns to its perfect smoothness before you add the rest of the vegetables.

Chocolate or vanilla? Which do you use? There are times when you really can’t make up your mind because they are both so good. Gale Gand agrees and this is why she wrote “Chocolate and Vanilla”.

The book was made available last year and if you haven’t bought it yet, you are missing out. It’s a fun, novelty item that has some cool recipes. If you pick up the book and open the cover you will see chocolate recipes. Flip the book and open the other cover and you get vanilla recipes. A two in one book – isn’t that great?!

Gale Gand wrote this book with Lisa Weiss. It features a whole lot of desserts that are absolutely sinful but definitely worth eating. She describes vanilla as the “lingerie of baking” which sure perks up the imagination of many home chefs. Is she right? Check out her book and you decide.

Technorati Tags: Gale Gand, desserts, chocolate, vanilla, cook book

Chef Jody Adams personifies the ease of being a great chef through the use of available resources found in your kitchen today. Being a good cook is a given with practice, but with more practice and a touch of imagination at that, good chefs are sure to arise. This has been one of the beliefs that have catapulted Chef Jody towards mastering the art of cooking.

Cooking in the eyes of Chef Jody would simply be like following instincts rather than the usual traditional cooking practices that people see on television or from reading the available cookbooks in stores today. It all boils down to following a cooking style which would carve out your name in the genre of food that a person would want to cook up.

This is the secret that Jody Adams shares as her ultimate success in cooking. With a wide array of recipes that includes starter meals, seasonal prepared meals and Italian tradition meals such as pasta until deserts, Chef Jody has a long list of recipes all based on her instincts and what she can do around the kitchen. People can do this as well if they know how to go around the kitchen of their homes as well.

Technorati Tags: chefs, jody adams, italian, deserts, seasonal

With Halloween just around the corner, here’s Martha’s advice on some fabulously frightening treats that will have the kids screaming with delight.

CREEPCAKE HOW-TO
Each design starts as chocolate or vanilla cupcakes iced with Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

For “spider” creepcakes, use your favourite cupcake recipe (vanilla or chocolate) pouring batter into 2 1/2 mini muffin tins with paper liners. Ice mini cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and coat icing with black sanding sugar. Use cinnamon candy for eyes. For legs, attach 8 pieces of black licorice. For fangs, cut out tiny cone shapes from a marshmallow and attach.

For “tentacle alien” creepcake, spread cupcake with a thin layer of buttercream tinted with a few drops of green food coloring. Cut strips of green taffy and attach around top of cupcake. For eye, slice a yellow gumdrop in half and press into top of cupcake. A piece of black licorice attached in front the gumdrop completes the creepy gaze.

For “big-eyed alien” creepcake, spread cupcake with a thin layer of buttercream tinted with a few drops of green food coloring. For small eye, attach a mini marshmallow and create pupil by painting on melted chocolate (microwave 1/2 cup chocolate chips for 1 minute). For large eye, push chocolate chip, tip down, into regular size marshmallow, then cut gummy tape for an eyelid. For teeth, place 5 mini marshamallows along the bottom of cupcake.

For “mummy” creepcake, spread cupcake with a thin layer of buttercream. Add jelly beans dotted with melted chocolate for eyes and red gummy candy for mouth. Using a ribbon tip (such as Ateco #44), pipe bands of buttercream.

For “brain” creepcake, use a medium round tip (such as Ateco #12) to pipe a mound of Vanilla Meringue Buttercream in the center of cupcake, then outline and pipe a brain design over it.

DECORATING TECHNIQUES

To decorate, use marshmallows and candy-coated chocolates for whites of eyes; jelly beans or gumdrops for peepers with an eerie glow. For pupils, paint on melted chocolate (microwave 1/2 cup chocolate chips for 1 minute). Or use candies whole: candy-coated chocolates will stick to marshmallows sliced to expose their stickiness; for our aliens’ eyes, we pushed chocolate chips, tip down, into marshmallows, then made a hole in the other side with a toothpick and inserted a licorice lace. Cut gummy tape for an eyelid. Sandwiched between halved gumdrops, marshmallows form a toothy grin; snip irregular pieces for fangs. Bend licorice or gummy rings into grimaces, or cut taffy tape for a tongue or tentacles.

Try these toppings:

* marshmallows
* licorice and jelly bean
* gummy ring
* taffy tape
* gumdrops and marshmallows
* marshmallows with licorice and mini
* chocolate chips
* jelly beans with melted chocolate
* marshmallows and candy-coated chocolates or melted chocolate
* marshmallows with candy-coated chocolate or gummy
* tape and licorice drop
* licorice with gumdrops or marshmallows

Technorati Tags: Martha Stewart, Halloween, HalloweenRecipe, Halloween Cupcakes

Could Virginia Willis be the next celebrity chef? This article claims she is, listing her achievements (including the book, above) and describing some of her down-to-earth charm.

We’ll see what happens!

A lot of celebrity chefs come out with cookbooks…but how many of the recipes can actually be done by real people (i.e., those among us who don’t have a big kitchen, 150 different kinds of spices, and a set of expensive kitchen knives?)

Jamie Oliver says that anyone can cook the recipes in “Jamie’s Dinners” and even proves it by
posting stories of readers on his website. Check it out. It may just be the perfect Father’s Day gift…and a subtle hint to the man in the house to take over kitchen duty once in a while.