How to Avoid the Potential Dangers of Herbed Oils

Herbed oils can be wonderfully tasty additions to salads, marinades and stir fries, and as a dip for crusty breads. They are great to cook with, and make a wonderful gift. This is an excellent way to preserve flavor, aroma and the health benefits of your fresh herbs.

Prepare an herbed oil by combining two cups of a culinary oil with a half cup of finely chopped and cleaned fresh herbs or a quarter cup of your home-dried herbs. Thoroughly dry all washed herbs before adding them to the oil. Appropriate oils would include olive oil, safflower, sunflower, peanut, grapeseed, or peanut oil. Use your imagination and taste in selecting the herbs; but try garlic, basil, tarragon, rosemary, thyme, and salad burnet.

Some recipes call for just steeping the oil/herb mixture at room temperature until the flavor and aroma are to your liking. Make sure you have used a sterilized container and lid, and that the herbs are totally immersed in the oil. After a week, strain out the herbs completely, and bottle the flavored oil, again using sterile conditions and containers.

Other recipes call for heating or sauteing clean fresh herbs in the oil for a few minutes at a low temperature. When the desired flavor is achieved, the herbs are filtered out using several layers of cheesecloth, and the oil is stored in sterilized bottles and sealed. The trick with either method is to make sure there is no moisture or bits of herbs left in the oil before you bottle it.

Because there are potential dangers of storing herbs in oil, never place sprigs of herbs in the finished bottle. Although this may look attractive, you are encouraging bacterial growth. Even if the oil is stored in the refrigerator, slow bacterial contamination can happen.

Two problems can occur with any herbal oil that has been infused. One is the growth of C.botulinium, a potentially dangerous problem; the other is rancidity. These two problems are not necessarily related. Botulism toxin can be present without any off-odor, while rancid oils will have a definite off-odor. Botulism will grow in a low acid environment, and in anaerobic conditions, both of which are met with oils.

Rancidity happens when oils are exposed, over time, to air, sunlight and heat. Rancidity will not make you sick, but could be unhealthy over time, since rancid fat contains certain chemicals that can damage cells and encourage cholesterol. Always discard any oils that have a noticeable off odor.

There are certain precautions you can take when making these flavorful oils for home use. By using dried herbs in making herbal oils, you are less likely to encourage botulism because of their low water content. Always store your herbal oils in the refrigerator, and you will greatly reduce the likelihood that these two problems will occur. The FDA recommends that you make any garlic-infused oils fresh, do not allow them to remain at room temperature, and discard them after only ten days. Use all other prepared and refrigerated herbal oils within three weeks, and after that, discard them.

How to Make Delicious Cookies That Are Easy to Ship to Soldiers, Kids at College, Etc - #6

Everyone loves a good homemade cookie and I can't think of anything that would say "home" to your soldiers or kids away at school than a package of homemade cookies. This old-fashion recipe for Peanut Butter Fingers will save "I love you" to anyone receiving them. If they will be in transient for a long period of time or to a very hot climate you may want to use a very light chocolate coating or skip it altogether. However, for most situations, it should work fine.

PEANUT BUTTER FINGERS
This recipe is from an old grocery store give-away years ago.

1 pkg active dry yeast
2 tbsp water at 105 to 115 degrees (warm)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or 3/4 cup all-purpose and 3/4 cup whole-wheat)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Cocoa Glaze: Recipe follows

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a large bowl. Mix in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg, peanut butter, and shortening until smooth. Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Remove dough from refrigerator and shape by teaspoonfuls into 2 1/2-inch fingers on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Make the cocoa glaze and dip one end of each cookie into the cocoa glaze.

COCOA GLAZE:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cups baking cocoa
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix the powdered sugar and cocoa in a medium bowl. Stir in the milk and the vanilla until smooth. Gradually add more milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until of dipping consistency, if needed.

Enjoy!

Barbecued Dragon Chicken Wings

Barbecued dragon chicken wings are really easy to make, and you eat them with your fingers. My favourite type of barbecue food! To save time I make the sauce for them the night before and keep it in the fridge until it's needed.

Serves: 6

Preparation: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients

* 18 chicken wings
* Oil for cooking

For the sauce

* 9 fl oz (250ml) of cider vinegar
* 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt
* 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
* ! teaspoon of paprika
* I small, roasted red pepper chopped
* freshly ground black pepper to taste
* 9 fl oz (60ml) of vegetable oil
* 2 tablespoons of Worcester sauce
* 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
* 1/2 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes

1. Place all of the ingredients into a blender and mix well together. Pour the sauce into a jug or bottle.

2. Rub the chicken wings with the oil and cook over a hot grill for about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir the sauce and drizzle it over the wings every few minutes.

3. Turn over and repeat for the other side. The sauce will separate and so will need stirring frequently prior to drizzling.

4. Serve your barbecued spicey chicken wings while they're hot.

Tip: Use a digital thermometer for cooking Barbecue Chicken

A basic digital thermometer is designed to take a temperature reading in about 10 seconds and cannot stay in the food during cooking. Remove the chicken from the heat and slide the thermometer into the thickest part of chicken pieces or into the breast on whole birds. Check the temperature reading.

If the temperature is too low, remove the thermometer and put the chicken back on the heat to finish cooking. If the temperature is right, the chicken is ready to eat.

Caribbean Fire BBQ Chicken

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Marinade time: 2 hours in a refrigerator, or overnight if possible
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 chicken portions
3 small hot chillies (birds eye or Scotch Bonnet), deseeded for a milder strength
3 pieces of fresh root ginger, about 1" (25mm) cube each
6 spring onions, trimmed
2 to 3 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of ground allspice
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
5 tablespoons of light soy sauce
6 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the spring onions, chillies, garlic, ginger, thyme, paprika, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, wine vinegar, soy sauce and pepper in a food processor and make into a smooth paste.

2. Place the chicken portions in a dish and pour the mixture over. Turn the portions so that they are well coated. Transfer to a refrigerator and leave to marinade for at least 2 hours, overnight if possible.

3. Remove the chicken from the dish, keeping the marinade for basting, and grill over hot coals for about 30 minutes. Turn occasionally and baste with the remaining marinade.

4. Serve at once on individual plates.

Tip: Cooking a Whole Barbecue Chicken

For whole birds and other foods that take longer to cook, consider a heat proof digital thermometer. These have a base unit that sits on the counter and a heat proof cord that connects the temperature probe to the base unit.

The probe stays in the food during cooking and the base unit displays the temperature throughout the cooking time. Slide the probe into the breast on a whole chicken.

Connect the cord to the base unit. Turn the base unit on and follow the manufacturers instructions for setting the desired end temperature. Once the end temperature is reached, remove the chicken from the heat.

Using a meat thermometer when barbecuing any meat is highly recommended for the best and most hygienic results.

Spicy BBQ Lime Chicken Wings Recipe

Served as an appetizer or entrée, lime juice gives a delightful tang to these marinated baked chicken wings.

You can also use this recipe on an outdoor barbecue. Try the marinade and sauce on other cuts of chicken (such as pre-cut chicken tenders) as well as pork.

Ingredients

* 1 cup ketchup
* 1/4 cup fresh Key lime juice or Persian lime juice
* 2 tablespoons liquid smoke
* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
* 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, or to taste
* 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
* 1/4 cup minced sweet onion
* 4 pounds meaty chicken wing pieces, joints separated and tips discarded (or save tips for making stock), about 24 pieces

Directions

In small bowl, combine ketchup, lime juice, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, hot pepper sauce, garlic powder, and sweet onion.

Stir until well-combined. (Yields about 1-1/2 cups of marinade.) Place chicken wing pieces into large freezer zip-top bag. Pour in marinade, squeeze out air, and seal.

Turn bag over and over until chicken wings are coated with marinade. Refrigerate at least two hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 325°. Place wings on baking rack nestled inside a baking pan.

Bake about 1-1/2 hours, basting with boiled marinade sauce during last half hour. While chicken wings are cooking, bring reserved marinade to boil in small saucepan.

Let boil for five minutes. Thirty minutes before wings are done, baste chicken wings with boiled marinade sauce, and continue cooking until wings are tender. Makes 8 appetizer or 3 entree servings.