Here are some of my great tips and tricks to make cooking easier and your food taste better.

Please feel free to contribute your own cooking tips -- I'll post the best ones so everyone can see them. You can send them to me via email at: seekingjoy@msn.com

Tips for GREAT taste and presentation.

Tip 1: Presentation

Presentation of a meal is often as much visual as it is flavorful. How often do you walk into a room and notice the aroma of a meal cooking? It's something that attracts you to the food. If you are further attracted to the visual aspects of the food as it is served. Your appetite will be even further enhanced if there is a variety of texture and flavor on the plate.

There are a variety of ways you can add texture and color to the plate. Hot and cold foods, steamed and fried foods, grilled and boiled foods, crisp fresh foods and tender cooked foods are combinations that balance. Balance is sometimes a loose interpretation of what you need, but if you have a hot food, a cold food, and a steamed food and a fried food on the same plate it makes an appealing combination.

For instance:
(Menu Sample)

Crisp spinach and tangerine salad with red onion rings

Grilled marinated chicken breasts with wild rice
Lemon wedges
Juliene Green Beans and diagonally sliced carrots with sauted onion bits

Pineapple Sorbet with Rasberries