The commonly used technique of baking is one of the most essential forms of cooking you could need. It involves the process of whipping ingredients like eggs, and milk, as well as creaming things like butter and sugar together to form a new consistency of food. Typically you would use ingredients like flour, butter, sugar, milk, eggs, and baking powder. When baking, the process involves cooking your food item in the oven for an extended period of time, and you usually cannot bake without cooking due to the type of ingredients used in the process. Typical food items created when baking are cookies, cakes, pies, and soufflé. When making certain dishes, you may be required to use a technique called sieve, which is where you would sift your flour or sugar through a sieve to make the ingredient finer and remove any lumps to avoid having an uneven mixture.

Did you know that cooking with charcoal can pose a cancer risk? When you cook with charcoal, the wood burns “dirty”, which means that they produce hydrocarbons (a compound of hydrogen and carbon, which are the main components of petroleum and natural gas) as well as soot particles that can produce heart and lunch problems. Grilling the meat over charcoal can form two types of carcinogenic compounds in the meat, which is very unhealthy to eat. When fat from the meat drips onto the charcoal, it forms a compound of carbon and hydrogen, which then rises with smoke into the meat being cooked. Cooking over charcoal can also increase the risk of cancer because the smoke that comes off of the grill gets depositors onto the outside of the meat and eating it can be very dangerous to your health. It is recommended to grill your meat, when camping or at a park, over a Colman or propane-based cooktop or stove, rather than a charcoal fire pit or grill. Cooking with charcoal briquettes or lumps can also cause lots of air pollution, because they are made from sawdust, but may also contain coal, dust, starch, limestone, borax, and sodium nitrate.

Credits: https://www.thoughtco.com/backyard-barbecues-bad-for-your-health-1203996

Vegetarian Shepherds Pie

Servings: 6

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup cooked lentils (1/3 cup dry lentils)

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 yellow onion

• 1 Tbsp olive oil

• 3 carrots

• 2 stalks celery

• 8 oz. button mushrooms

• 3/4 tsp salt

• 1 tsp dried thyme

• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

• Freshly cracked pepper

• 1 Tbsp tomato paste

• 1 Tbsp flour

• 1 cup vegetable broth

• 1 cup frozen peas

• 4 cups mashed potatoes

INSTRUCTIONS

• Mince the garlic and dice the onion. Sauté the onion and garlic with olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the onions are soft and transparent (3-5 minutes).

• While the onions and garlic are cooking, peel and dice the carrots, dice the celery, and slice the mushrooms. Once the onions are soft, add the carrots and celery to the skillet and continue to sauté until the celery begins to soften slightly (5 minutes).

• Finally, add the mushrooms, salt, thyme, smoked paprika, and freshly cracked pepper to the skillet. Continue to sauté until the mushrooms have fully softened (3-5 minutes). Add the tomato paste and flour to the skillet. Stir and cook the vegetables with the flour and tomato paste until the vegetables are coated and the pasty mixture begins to coat the bottom of the skillet (about 2 minutes).

• Add the vegetable broth to the skillet, stirring to dissolve the flour and tomato paste from the bottom of the skillet. Allow the broth to come up to a simmer, at which point it will become slightly thicker. Stir in the cooked lentils and frozen peas, and allow to mixture to heat through.

• Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Pour the vegetable mixture into a casserole dish, or use your skillet if it is oven safe. Spread the mashed potatoes out over the surface of the vegetables and gravy. Use your spoon to make a decorative pattern in the mashed potatoes, if desired.

• Bake the shepherd’s pie in the fully preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until everything is heated through. To achieve a browned surface on the mashed potatoes (optional), turn on the oven’s broiler (and place the pie under it, if not already), and watch closely until the top has browned.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
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The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

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• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
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• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.