Cooking Hints

I have a recipe that calls for 3 cups of cut up chicken breast. How many ounces of boneless chicken breasts should I buy? I find I frequently have trouble with recipes, which call for one measure, but the grocery store sells in another measure. Could you post some equivalents? About 18 ounces or 1.125...

What happens if the Styrofoam container, within which I'm heating my food, has melted a bit? I was microwaving some soup and when it came out, a ring of "melted" Styrofoam, where the grease/oil was floating, appeared. I had a bit of the soup and then got scared. Should I be? Thanks for your...

Where can I find a dietitian who is a personal chef? The Food & Culinary Professionals dietetic practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics specializes in working as personal chefs, in commercial food service operations or food safety and sanitation. You can find a dietitian at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Include...

I was looking to find the difference between icing sugar and confection sugar as a member of my family cannot use icing sugar in cooking. Thank you for your time and help. Confectioner's sugar as it is called in the US is called icing sugar in Britain and sucre glace in France. As such they...

Does an apple pie, after baking, still contain all the nutrients of the fresh apples that went into it? Mostly yes other than some fiber is lost when the apple is peeled for the pie and some vitamin C is lost during baking. Apples are a source of vitamin C (14% Daily Value for a...

I usually steam fresh vegetables for approx. 10-20 minutes, depending on what I am cooking, then serve them. Do they lose nutrients if they are steamed then refrigerated for a day or two and microwaved to reheat before serving? This seems to me that the vegetables are being overcooked or twice cooked. Steaming is great...

I recently purchased a Juiceman juicer and one of the recipes called for the use of tahini. I was wondering what is tahini? I searched for the meaning of this word in all search engines and could not get a definition of it. Is it an alternative for dairy products? Thank you for taking...

I was referred to your site by an NFSD Coordinator. I was wondering about how long you could store catsup and if it could be frozen. She did not have a definitive answer for me but thought that catsup could be stored for at least six months in the refrigerator. She also said that...

Is there any harm in eating microwave foods daily? Do you have any information on the effects of a microwave? Microwave cooking of food is not harmful, based on current research. In fact, microwaves preserve more of the vitamins and minerals in food because the food's exposure to heat and water is shorter than with...

How do I extract juice from raw vegetables? Raw vegetables are high in fiber and the best / easiest way is with a juicer. Otherwise, you could put vegetables in your blender or food processor. However since water content varies from vegetable to vegetable, you may have to add water or juice or broth to...