Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Healthy Ways To Enjoy Poultry

By Laura Cales

When we eat meat, it should be very lean so that we are taking in just the protein and not fat. chicken fits the bill perfectly.

When starting a new diet, chicken is the meat of choice. You can do so much with it and it provides us with the valuable protein that we need.

Although a lot of people think that chicken is very boring and find it rather dry, I've personally never found this as I tend to make a lot of different dishes and include various ingredients so that even if I had chicken every day it would always taste different.

By experimenting with different recipes you will make sure that you aren't going to get bored. This is the scourge of the dieter; when you eat so much you just can't eat any more and fall back into your old and unhealthy eating habits. There's nothing worse than dreading eating something that you used to thoroughly enjoy.

Here are a few ideas for chicken that both taste delicious and will ensure that the boredom never sets in. Theses recipes have the added bonus of being very healthy, so you can rest assured that although you have made the Chicken taste different, it is still good for you.

The simplest way to liven up Chicken is a sauce. As we are looking for a healthy option; I recommend a sauce which consists of orange, honey and raisins. If you like nuts, throw in few almonds too. The sweetness of the sauce should ensure that you won't want a dessert either.

One of my all time favorite herbs is tarragon, and when mixed into a low fat, healthy sauce to create a creamy chicken salad it is delicious. For those with a rich palate; mayonnaise or sour cream that is low in fat can be used. So what would have been a definite no no at one time can now be eaten and enjoyed.

If you, like me, are a fan of Asian cuisine, why not try your chicken with lime and coconut? Throw in some vegetables to if you want. Get out your wok and try some of the dishes that you normally buy as take out. Chicken really should never get boring.

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10 Steps For Cooking-Up Family Memories

By Alfred Lancer

The kitchen is the perfect place for making memories. When you spend time baking, cooking and enjoying meals with your family, you create happy memories you and your children will cherish forever.

The benefits of preparing and enjoying food as a family are clear. You save money and eat healthier meals. You create opportunities to connect and communicate with your children and spouse. And most importantly, you show love for your family when you spend time cooking and eating with them. Children of all ages need your attention and your time. By working together to create a meal or bake a batch of cookies, you spend valuable time together.

So, here are 10 steps to get your family cooking up memories.

Step 1: Teach small children the fun of cooking by helping them bake cookies and cakes. If you are short on time, you can use a boxed cookie mix and spend more time decorating.

Step 2: Encourage the littlest ones to play pretend cooking. Kids love to play with real mixing bowls, strainers and wooden spoons. These make harmless toys and can be easily thrown in the dishwasher for quick cleanup.

Step 3: If you live by your day-timer, schedule in baking cookies with your kids. Our schedules can be so hectic that something as simple as baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies can get skipped over. Write it down and do it.

Step 4: If you have teenagers, let them play their favorite music while they wash the lettuce and set the table.

Step 5: Work together with your spouse to prepare the dinner and use the time to catch up on each other's day.

Step 6: Even if you are in a rush preparing dinner, remember to reduce your stress and focus on creating a fun atmosphere that naturally encourages the whole family to participate.

Step 7: When spending time preparing food with your children, include lessons about healthy eating choices. Keep the conversation positive and avoid listing foods they can't have.

Step 8: On days where you anticipate time will be tight, consider taking a short cut by using a frozen stir-fry mix or pasta with a jar of pre-made sauce. Your family will appreciate your relaxed mood much more than a made-from-scratch dinner.

Step 9: Share the job of grocery shopping. One week have mom take one of the children as a helper, the next week dad can go with another child. Always work from a grocery list and let your children help you retrieve items and cross them off the list.

Step 10: Have big family meals where you share about your day. Keep the conversation fun and avoid negative lectures over dinner. Remember to laugh.

Take these steps today and make your kitchen a fun and memorable place for your whole family.

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Monday, August 30, 2010

Pros & Cons Of Buying The Enjoyable Product?

By Konstantine A Sentischev

Why should we buy this appetizing produce?

Red caviar by its character constitutes a selected choicest produce very much praised because of the certain importance. Moreover this doesn't constitute simply a guess. The confirmation has on many occasions been approved by experts in diverse fields, starting with nutritionists and ending with chief cooks.

As though unusual that may seem, fish roe can delight everybody in different ways. The huge selection of targets comprises fit life standard, very important amount of nutrients, particular components for a well-balanced weight of human body, &, definitely, remarkable savor. Because of the particular smack and extraordinary shiny gorgeous beads, can make real several of one's most daring fancies connected with tang as well as dinner layout. Every aspect where caviar is applied asserts that it is worth buying it.

Assume you really must remodel your body. If you have decided to lose weight, red fish roe represents one of the valid clues. In spite of its increased eating quality, black fish roe has no more than 260 calories for each 100 grams. That issue pictures red fish roe as an necessary produce on your way to regaining the figure of your imagination. You must know that by including this delicacy into your personal menu, you will be granted enough liveliness with no getting fat.

Fancy out your mass is normal, and you only are eager to go for a sound life. If assuring yourself with a wide amount vitamins and minerals makes up your principal goal, another time caviar appears as the precise answer. This contains four types of Vitamins of group B, as well as C, A, and D. Black fish roe contains a large amount such constituents like Ca, phosphorus, proteins, selenium, iron, magnesium. This also includes such important amino acids as arginine as well as histidine & diamino-hexanoic acid, isoleutin, and Omega-3 fatty acids. Above figure and vigor, black fish roe is helpful in this course, as well. For example, to stop cancer, cardiovascular diseases or improve your immunity, just go for black caviar.

On condition that you long for a lovely savor, and are prepared to stick with the rows of gourmands, another time red fish roe may give you a hand. This is a tempting product made to fulfill the most refined tastes and match up your superior gourmand feelings. This will transport consumers to a realm full of comfort & extraordinary savor.

Caviar makes up an aphrodisiac that is able to provoke in you novel, unforgettable feeling of happiness and pleasure. The moment delicate round grains soften inside your mouth, a huge surge of happiness pulsates all over your organism and mind, leaving you still with pleasure. After you have tried it, it's impossible to forget that delicate flavor, & you may well once for all remain a real enthusiast of excellent red caviar.

Everything above being said, you have to agree that black caviar merits acquiring since the pluses which it can offer give back in full measure its expensive cost

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The Entire Price So That You Can Open Up A Very Good Eatery In Cary, North Carolina

By Carol Right

So you are enthusiastic about opening up a cafe in Cary. Now there is quite the desire for reputable Eaterys in the Cary region, you just simply have to undertake a bit of preliminary research well before you "take the plunge". Inside this specific article we will be concentrating on the price tag to open a cafe. Here are a number of of the items which you are probably going to want to make investments in:

The Site

You are going to need to lease a location for starters. The particular price tag connected with this can easily differ based upon the area. A huge urban center may charge you close to $40 per square foot, but you can sometimes assume to secure the corresponding amount of land a lot less costly in a rural locale. Along together with the lease you will discover the additional fees of taxations, insurance plans, as well as maintenance. It's not unheard of for these types of expenditures to total close to 9-11% of yearly gross sales.

The Scale

Another element you'll want to take under consideration is going to be the capacity of the eating place you want to open up. As one can very well expect, a smaller diner utilizing Twenty five seats will cost you much less than a larger eating place having 175 chairs.

The Kind of Food

The sort of food you propose to dish out can have a tremendous impact on your costs. If you're planning on opening a sea food Eatery lobster can get quite expensive. It can also become expensive to keep lobsters as they will demand refrigeration. Should you be considering on beginning a "rice and beans" Eatery you would not have to worry about cuisine costs as much. A compact caf or coffee shop will have minimal cuisine costs.

The Permits

You do not think that the federal government would not wish to know precisely what you were working on did you? The permits you will need will certainly need to be figured into the cost of beginning your diner. Permit charges can range originating from a few hundred to several thousands of $ $ $ $, so you ought to be sure to complete all your preparation.

Some of the Cosmetics

This is one place exactly where expenses can accumulate. You wish your own cafe to look the very best, and this also will involve obtaining accessories, pictures, lighting, fresh paint, dinnerware, kitchen table cloths...the checklist goes on. Dependant upon exactly how sophisticated you want to be these kinds of costs may range from 100s to thousands of dollars.

The Actual Marketing and Advertising

When you have your own bistro ready to go you are going to want to notify the population about it. Conceivable alternatives are the airwaves, papers, television, journals, and business cards. It is a fundamental expenditure, and the profit is the potential customers that come to your own place to eat and relax.

The Type of Inventory

You may have to have quite a few day-to-day materials to run your own eating place. Look at all the groceries, herbs, drinks, pans, etc. that you are likely to require. Expenses of this sort can certainly add way up to $10,000 or even more...

The Final Outcome

One of the more significant factors you can look into while beginning a cafe is definitely the fiscal facet. You will want to make certain you have got adequate cash to be able to get you going, and keep you moving until the consumers appear. All the very best with your new restaurant venture.

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Sunday, August 29, 2010

One Approach We Can Have Better Chocolate

By Cara Laurel

What is it about chocolate that make it so irresistible? We eat for any reason; as a treat to reward ourselves, to lift us when we are down or in our favourite desserts. It ticks al the boxes, but we also know that we shouldn't eat the amount that we do, unless it was healthy chocolate of course.

And the good new is that there is a healthy chocolate out there. There are many good things in chocolate such as vitamins and minerals, so what is it that makes it generally so unhealthy?

The thing is we mess about with our chocolate something rotten. We get the basic product then add loads of other stuff to it, such as extra butter, sugar, milk solids etc which enhance the flavor but make it very fattening. Dark chocolate, however, doesn't have any of these added, but there is one more thing to think about.

This is a very strange fact; our body doesn't see chocolate as a food. It's just a carrier to bring all the sugars etc into our body which we them hang on to, dispelling the good stuff like the minerals without getting any benefit from them.

The trick is to eat chocolate with other foods as well, nuts and fruits are perfect. Eating them together ensures that your body treats the chocolate as food and you get all the goodness from it.

As dark chocolate contains a lot of iron, eating it with foods high in Vitamin C ensures that all the nutrients are absorbed and you get all the benefits. You have the best of both world here; you get all the iron, vitamins etc and it tastes absolutely gorgeous as well.

When I worked as a chocolatier I regularly consumed dark chocolate with all manner of fruits; in particular berries and nuts. A blood test showed that my levels of vitamins and minerals were perfect and I didn't gain any weight.

So you now know which chocolate to eat if you can't do without it. Forget the fat laden milk chocolate bars and reach for a dark chocolate with fruit and nuts and enjoy your treat without the guilt.

Like everything else, if you eat too much chocolate it becomes unhealthy, so watch your consumption.

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Fun Ideas For Sweet Preparations

By Sarah Donaldson

There's nothing quite like a great dessert to finish of a good meal. We all know we shouldn't, and we feel guilty eating it, but it's hard to resist your favorite treats when they are them on offer.

I consider myself a bit of a dessert connoisseur; having eaten so many of them in the past. I eat them hot or cold, so here are a few suggestions for desserts you may like to try.

Some of these may already be your favorites, but hopefully there will be some new ones here for you to try too. Why not try them at home adding your own personal touch?

You may make chocolate mousse on a regular basis, but how often do you use white chocolate? You may not feel as if it will taste like a real mousse, but trust me, it is. You may well end up preferring the white version.

If you like a bit of fruit in your desserts; add some drizzle to the mousse, in a flavor with a bit of a kick like raspberry. The sharpness of the fruit is a great contrast to the chocolate.

The humble drinking glass is a great container to serve an elaborate dessert in. The ingredients are simplicity itself, so there are no worries that it won't taste good. This means you can spend more time on what it looks like.

You really have no boundaries with this kind of dessert. You can keep it simple but classy looking, or really go to town to create a magnificent sundae which will never fail to impress.

Cutting a mango into a rose may sound really difficult, but have a look at the instructions on the internet and you will soon be able to do it yourself really easily. Then just add the filling for a beautiful looking dessert.

If you are a mango fan you will love this, and the combination of the mango flavor with either sorbet or ice cream is sublime.

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Saturday, August 28, 2010

Ideas For Selecting A Gourmet Food Gift Basket

By Teresa Joseph

When you are planning to buy a gourmet food gift basket for that someone special, whatever the occasion may be, you need to take several things into consideration before you buy. Specifically, when you decide on a basket, you are deciding on foods that are usually served for special occasions. That makes it difficult to predict the quantity of variety of foods to include.

Be sure you know how many people the basket will ultimately serve. Since foods are perishable, you really want to know if you are dealing with a couple of people or a sizable group of people. Knowing the number of people, you can now size the basket appropriately. You will want the basket, when filled, to look overflowing. So, size it a bit smaller than what you think you need. After you have sized your basket, pick a color that is appropriate for the occasion and attractive.

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Now that you have your basket, the fun part begins. What to put into the gourmet food gift basket? The options are endless.

Beverages If you are going to include beverages, wines are a great choice. Even if the recipients don't drink alcohol, you can substitute a nice sparkling cider. Otherwise, you could go with coffee and tea selections. Herbal teas are very popular these days. Mugs are a nice complement to baskets that have coffee or tea.

Cheese Cheese is also a great choice to put into your gourmet food gift basket because they come in all shapes, colors and sizes. And you can't have cheese with bread or crackers - I mean the fancy kind of course. Be sure that cheese and cracker style baskets come with nice decorative plates and flatware.

Fruit You can have fruit in its own gift basket or to augment another basket item. The best fruit selections are fresh fruits including apples, pears, and oranges but don't overlook exotic dried fruits, berries, and nuts.

Sweets At this point, you may not have realized the great many choices in gourmet food gift baskets. Well, there's more. How about sweets? Baskets can contain items like cookies, gourmet desserts, muffins, jams, and jellies. What is especially popular lately are gourmet chocolate gift baskets.

As you can see, sizing up the basket is the easy part while deciding on how to fill it can be overwhelming. You can mix some or all of the above-mentioned items or have a basket that focuses on just one type of item. The world is your basket. Consider the personality, likes and dislikes of your main recipient(s).

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Caviar - Environmentally Friendly Options And How To Serve

By Alfred Lancer

Salted roe of sturgeon and other varieties of fish are popularly known as caviar. It is a delicacy used as a spread or garnish and with hors d'oeuvres. Caviar is a deviate of the Persian word Khag-avar which means "the roe generator" referring to roe of the sturgeon.

There is good news for environmentally conscious American citizens who also happen to be connoisseurs of caviar. Now new varieties of caviars are available which are produced from paddlefish and sturgeon farmed in the US. They taste good and at the same time are environmentally sustainable. The development of American caviar also addresses the worries of consumers and culinary experts about the decline of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea.

Caspian Sea Sturgeon is the major source for the caviar needs of the world. Sturgeons produce the famous beluga. Due to illegal trade, pollution, over fishing and habitat loss, there is a severe down spiral in the population of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea.

SeaWeb, Pew Institute for Ocean Science and Natural Resources Defense Council of University of Miami is urging the American consumers to support American caviars as a better alternative and to safeguard the endangered species of the Caspian Sea.

The caviars from Missouri and California are prominently supported by consumers, renowned chefs and media organizations.

Jacques Pepinand and Rick Moonen who are leading chefs of New York's Restaurant RM and San Francisco's Traci des Jardins of Jardiniere removed Caspian Sea caviars from their menu and replaced them with American caviars in an effort to help the environmental groups protecting the Caspian Sea sturgeons.

Most of the party givers would like to know how much caviar should be bought for their party. It depends on the number of guests attending the party and how the caviar is going to be served. With every ounce of caviar, you can serve 8 to 10 guests. Quarter teaspoon or less of caviar can be used for garnishing purposes. With caviar on top of an appetizer and to enhance the taste of caviar predominantly, use half a teaspoon.

Caviar should not be opened until it is needed. Leftovers should be promptly covered and stored in the fridge to be used within a couple of days.

If the taste of the caviar is to be retained, do not freeze it. When you freeze the caviar the roe membrane of the caviar gets toughened and the flavor is altered. If you do freeze it, slowly defrost the frozen caviar in the fridge for at least a day or two before you serve. Caviar should be refrigerated at 28 to 32 degrees by putting the tin in the meat shelf or surrounding the bowl containing caviar with ice.

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Friday, August 27, 2010

How To Choose Quality Caviar From Russia

By Konstantine A Sentischev

Tips on how to buy the best caviar

Red caviar from Russia Russian caviar is supposed to be the illustration of high-quality way. This sort of best luscious product embodies the pleasure that you feel for an anniversary. Just in case you manage this delicacy cleverly, this can constitute a particularly shape-maintaining and stimulating diet. That is the account for which this is very important to see the secret of choosing the best black caviar.

Notwithstanding the expensive price of the mouth-watering product, the greatest part of consumers have had the honored chance to attempt the magnificent flavor. It should be noticed that exclusively via its zest consumers are enabled to estimate the produce.

This is why consumers must elucidate the situation : what is the true approach of selecting this very distinctive product, spending least waste of time. When clients get black fish roe from Russia, that is scarce to find that the jar has red or black fish roe. We should make sure about what fish this comes. This is the gen which supports you in making the right option.

The present fish roe dealer advises a chief option of refined caviar from Russia. Talking about red fish roe, Keta fish roe is bright orange in color, and diverges from mid to huge. If you chance to meet really little caviar, you ought to remark it originates from red blueback.

Bigger in diameter is considered to be humpback salmon caviar, of an orange shade having a stable red salmon savor. In case you are ordering fairly little bead roe intense red in color, with a divergent bittersweet savor, it is sock eyed salmon bead roe. Out of black grain roe, sturgeon has got a nutty- sweet savor.

Tinier in amount is considered to be Caspian Sea sturgeon fish, with a strong spicy aroma. You have to remember this as you mean to get contented with this nutrition you have picked out.

Another fact to remember is that roe is proved to be a fragile diet. That is the account for which you should rather have it in some days since the moment when customers have started having the box. It will never do to store roe in a metallic container. On condition that you have ordered this in a tinny box, this is desirable that you keep it in a glass jar and cover up by adhesive coating.

The fish roe which you can acquire in boutiques generally comprises two types. The primary grade is super, including entire, firm & detachable roe. Once it originates from the same fish sort, all roe are the same shade & volume. The other sort contains red fish roe originating from various kinds of fish. This is the account for which it's really possible to get tacky grains.

Second class red caviar has got a more salty & bitter tang. At this very step you should keep in mind that premium fish roe coming from Russia doesn't have to include any film or gore. It doesn't have to contain a full fish stench as well. If you wish to utterly take profit from what red fish roe presents to human beings, subsequently you must go for purely quality black fish roe originating from Russia.

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Tastiest Sodas You've Likely Never Had

By Doug Ross

Was there ever a greater drink invented than Cola? I don't think so. The amount of soda I consume is scary, so I guess you could call me an addict.

The thing is I don't stop at cola; I like all beverages of all flavors and can't wait to try anything new that comes onto the market. I love trying out obscure brands too, and have found a few firm favorites this way.

What tips the balance for me are those drinks that use real sugar instead of all the others with the high faulting names such as corn syrup or fructose. These are meant to be natural ingredients but there is nothing natural about the way that they are processed.

For whatever reasons, there are some great tasting sodas out there that never receive the recognition that they deserve. Here are a few that I think you'll enjoy.

Root beer is one of this country's biggest selling beverages, and one of the best I've ever tasted is the award winning Virgil's. This is a delicious drink which sadly doesn't get the recognition it deserves, despite all its prizes.

From the same manufacturer comes the wonderfully named and utterly delicious black cherry vanilla cream soda. This has a sublime flavor and so deserves to be better known than it is.

Boylan's make, in my opinion, one of the best colas on the market. Their sugar cane cola is exactly what it says on the tin. The sugar cane is blended with the other natural ingredients to create a traditional cola which hits your taste buds in an explosion of flavor.

My last recommendation today is the fusion of green tea and fruit flavors that go to make the great sodas that are manufactured by Steaz. These taste amazing and are much better for you than a typical soda. The flavors include root beer, orange, raspberry and lemon & lime. These are a real treat for your taste buds.

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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

All You Should Know About Candies

By Rich Kruger

Candy is really a favorite of small children in addition to many grown ups. The famous sugar candy is made of thick solution of sugar water which can be then made tasty and attractive by adding various flavors and colors. These cadies are sometimes made into ice pop candies by freezing them.

Candy is a broad term this includes chocolates, liquorice, toffees, candy bars, chewing gums and many more. Fruit or vegetable coating is placed on add shine to these candies. Most often they are referred to as confectionery or sweets. Lollipop is called a sugar candy with a stick. Types of candies like fairy floss or cotton candies are quiet famous and are favorite of numerous children.

Candy is manufactured with the diluting sugar in milk or water that is then boiled to find the required consistency. The outcome from the product is dependent upon the timeframe used for boiling the mixture and also the ingredients used in the process. These are available in various forms and textures like chewy, soft, brittle and hard. Peppermint sticks, gum drops, lollipops, cotton candy, toffee, praline, rock candy, peanut brittle, taffy, caramel and candy bars are a few of the varieties, that exist in the market.

The consistency of the candy depends upon the quantity of sugar put in the mixture. This mixture is boiled till the water gets evaporated. The higher the temperature where the mixture is boiled the harder the candies become and the lower the temperature used for boiling the softer the candies become.

All the stages for boiling the sugar are: soft ball- temperature 234-240 F, 112-115 C, sugar concentration 85 %, thread- 230 -233F, 110-111 C, sugar concentration 80%, and soft crack- 270-290 F, 132-143 C, sugar concentration 95 % are a couple of the stages used for making different candies.

Gelatin is added in certain candies like gummy bears and marshmallows which is made from animal bones thus restricting the vegetarian people to eat them, for e.g. kosher gelatin which is made from fish bone. Some candy may contain pectin, gum arabic, agar agar which can be substitute for gelatin, but the final expertise of the products may vary from the original usage of gelatin. Other common non-vegetarian product would be the carmine, which might include wings and also other body parts of some insects.

The candies can be edible for the period of two weeks close to one year. The edibility from the candies and sweets can be increased if they're stored in dry and cool places. These candies contain high amount of sugar which is often harmful to health. So it's better to have this confectionery in limited quantities. Our mouth contains bacteria which reside on sugar thus creating acid in mouth and then the cavities. To avoid the cavities and spoiling of the teeth it is necessary to brush your teeth regularly and neatly preferably after every meal or after eating something sweet.

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Food - Tips For Preparing And Storing It

By Owen Jones

In these times of superior alertness of the shortages in the world and the recent economic problems in the whole world, but especially in the wealthy Western countries, which are the powerhouses of most Third World countries' expansion, people are more aware of waste. It is a sin again to throw away food, like it was 50 years ago.

This can only be a good thing although it is a shame that it took an international financial crisis to make us remember the lesson. These days, waste of any kind is greeted with public disapproval and so it is at home too. Most people spend a very high percentage of their outgoings on food and so anyone who wants to cut back, has to first look to this quarter to make a saving.

However, saving does not inevitably mean 'not buying', it can and should mean 'not throwing away'. In other words, prepare your food and do not let your food go off. Preparation and storage are the key words. With that thought in mind, here are a few of my tips for preparing and storing food correctly.

Bread - tons of bread is wasted every day, because it has gone stale or mouldy and yet it is completely needless. Store your bread in the deep freezer and not in the bread bin. A whole loaf will slice frozen with the proper knife and sliced bread will come away slice by slice. There is no requirement to defrost as it only takes a minute or two at room temperature.

Bananas - most people understand that banana skins go black if stored in the fridge, but most people do not know that bananas can be frozen solid. Yes, the skins will still turn black, but the fruit will be unharmed.

Cake - to stop cake from going stale, store it in a tin with an apple. The moisture in the apple will stop the cake from going hard.

Watercress - to keep watercress from wilting, store it upside down in water, that is stalks up.

Salt - salt often gets damp, particularly if stored in a steamy kitchen without sufficient ventilation, but you do not have to worry about that if you put two or three grains of rice in the salt cellar. They will soak up the moisture before the salt.

Cereal - stop cereal from going soft by resealing the bag with a few clothes pegs. Your cereal will last weeks more.

Jam - boiling jam produces a scum which has to be skimmed off and thrown away. This wastes jam, goodness and flavour. However, if you whisk a knob of butter into the mixture at the last moment the scum will not materialize, saving time and goodness.

Funnel - you always seem to require a funnel when you do not have one. Then you promise to get a funnel for the next time. Do not bother. Just cut the top nine inches off a plastic bottle of cola. It makes an ideal throw-away funnel. Some of the larger bottles even have a handle on them which is even better.

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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Chicken Cordon Bleu - What Is It And How To Make It

By Christine Szalay-Kudra

Chicken cordon bleu is not a difficult dish to make. In fact, it is quite simple if you have a good recipe to follow. If you enjoy stuffed poultry dishes, you will really like this one. This recipe is centuries older than the Cordon Bleu cooking school, which is in France.

A lot of people think this recipe is French but nobody knows whether it is, or whether it was created by chefs in the United States who were trying to replicate a European style stuffed poultry dish.

The History of Chicken Cordon Bleu

"Cordon bleu" means blue ribbon. During the sixteenth century, King Henry III initiated an order of knights to fight for Catholicism.

This group of knights would wear a Maltese cross around their neck, suspended by a blue ribbon. They gathered for enormous feasts, cooked by skilled chefs, and the blue ribbon became associated with fine cooking.

How to Make the Best Chicken Cordon Bleu

Cordon bleu is chicken or veal wrapped around Swiss cheese and ham. A lot of cordon bleu recipes also feature a breadcrumb crust. The easiest way to make this recipe is to make a layered dish with the meat underneath and add the cheese and ham near the end so it warms and melts. You can bake this type of recipe, rather than fry it, making it ideal if you are watching your weight.

Another preparation method, if you want to know how to cook chicken cordon bleu, is to cut the meat open by making a hole, push the cheese inside it and wrap the ham around the outside. Finally wrap it in breadcrumbs and cook it. However, the most common and authentic way of making this dish is to butterfly the bird, pound it flat, then wrap the ham and cheese inside. Dip it in breadcrumbs and fry, bake, or grill it.

Classic cordon bleu has a Swiss cheese and ham filling. You can use Gruyere, Provolone or even mozzarella cheese. The ham can be prosciutto, cured ham, or bacon. Feel free to add some spinach or fresh basil leaves too, for some extra color and flavor and perhaps a chopped sun dried tomato or two.

The chicken should be pounded to a quarter inch thickness for the best results and you might like to sprinkle some salt and pepper on it before adding the filling. Roll it up and secure it with toothpicks. To get the breadcrumbs to stick to the meat, you should mix them with a beaten egg and roll the meat through this mixture.

How to Serve Chicken Cordon Bleu

You can serve your creation with a creamy sauce or a mustard sauce. There are lots of different kinds of sauces you can choose from actually or you can simply serve it by itself.

Rice or potatoes are a nice accompaniment for this boneless chicken recipe and you can serve any vegetables you like on the side. This recipe is a great one for a dinner party because it looks appetizing, is easy to make and there are different variations.

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The Tastiest Pizza Toppings You've Never Had

By Martin Tanner

I live in a city that many say boasts the best pizza in the world. New York is a wonderful place, and you'd be hard pressed to walk a few blocks in any commercial neighborhood without finding a pizzeria.

Having said that, I have gotten the opportunity to sample such a huge range of styles and slices. Based on that fact, I know about all the unique kinds that there are, so now I will tell you about some of them.

Perhaps you yourself would like to make these or you want to find an establishment near you that has them on the menu; if you are someone who really likes to try creative food dishes, then you will definitely want to sample these kinds of pizza.

Have you ever gotten to try a slice of mac and cheese pizza? If not, you should absolutely give it a try. I know that it probably seems a little unusual, but it tastes so awesome. When the slice has the macaroni breaded on top, it is even more yummy.

Another very popular slice at anyone of the city's top pizzerias is a spinach artichoke variety. This is like your typical spinach style slice, but it has artichokes and a creamy blend of cheese throughout. Many call it the best they've ever had.

Lastly, I'm a big fan of buffalo chicken and it goes great when it sits atop a hot crust. Try a buffalo chicken pizza slice if you like this food to begin with and I think you'll fall in love.

Add to the flavor of it all by either applying blue cheese to the slice or keeping it separate with a dip. You'll find that it even tastes great with the crust.

I sure hope that you can get some inspiration from one or all of these kinds of pizza. I personally love all of them and perhaps you will as well.

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Thursday, August 19, 2010

A Very Valuable Kitchen Suggestion

By Felicia Moran

The great thing about cooking is the experimentation and the praise you receive when you turn out yet another fabulous mean or dessert. What isn't so great is the mess left behind that you will have to tidy up later.

This has bugged us for generations, well, since the days of masters and servants ceased to exist. At one time, all our ancestors had to do was sit at the table, have their meals brought to them and then retire. The staff downstairs had to worry about all the tidying up.

Even if you couldn't afford the luxury of servants, you were probably so poor that your diet was very limited, thus leaving very little tidying up to do afterwards.

The thing is, with today's so called time saving gadgets, there seems to be more mess than ever. As well as utensils we have used, there are also a stack of appliances such as blenders that need to be cleaned out.

The nearest most of us have to servants these days is a cleaner once or twice a week, and a war zone kitchen isn't really in her job description! So we still stress about how we can continue cooking, but without the mess.

So we still search for that magic something that will enable us to turn out lavish gastronomic creations without any of the mess. As, sadly, it simply doesn't exist, here's something you can try instead.

Clean as you go is now my kitchen motto. Keep a bowl of hot, soapy water and wash each piece as soon as you've used it. Then when you've finished, there will only be the last couple of things that you've used, so much better than a teetering pile of dirty dishes.

So know you know that leaving everything until the end is just putting off the inevitable and they will probably be harder to clean by then as whatever is on them will have hardened. Clean each piece as you go and when you finish cooking, there will be no tidying up to do.

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Chinese New Year Cooking Ideas

By Owen Jones

There are few festivities celebrated around the world on the identical grand scale that the Chinese New Year is enjoyed. This is an occasion that affects people all around the world. The festivities are quite exotic and a lot of fun for everyone involved. One thing that many outsiders may not realize is that most of the aspects of the Chinese New Year celebrations have a very specific purpose and connotation. Even the food.

Whether you are Chinese are not, I 'm sure that you could use a degree of good fortune to make things run a little more smoothly in your life.

When it comes to cooking for a Chinese New Year celebration there are a few things you ought to keep in mind. The dishes that are cooked each have their very own meaning and a definite reason for being cooked.

Dumplings are supposed to bring wealth in the New Year to those who eat them on this particular day. Of course, riches is something that most people want to have and there are many ways of doing so. Other foods that symbolize the attainment of wealth on the Chinese New Year are bamboo shoots, black moss seaweed, egg rolls, and oranges. This is just the start of the lesson in the symbolic nature of food for the Chinese New Year.

Longevity or long life is something else that the Chinese famously long for. Eternal youth some may call it. The secret, they say, to a long life is the consumption of the correct food as part of the New Year festivities. Those foods include: noodles, Chinese garlic, chives, and peanuts.

Prosperity is attributed to foods such as lettuce, whole fish, and pomelo. In addition to success whole fish and pomelo are believed to bring abundance and togetherness (as in marriage or romance) during the coming year.

Chicken is the main course if happiness is the goal. In addition, chicken is associated with marriage, particularly when served with foods, which are considered to be dragon foods, such as lobster.

Those wanting children in the near future should add eggs, seeds (such as watermelon seeds) and pomelo - especially the last two, if you want a couple of children.

To end with, if good luck is what you most require, try to add a tangerine or some seaweed to your plate on this special day. If your run of luck has been really very bad recently, you may want to double up on your serving of both.

The Internet contains masses of wonderful recipes to help you celebrate the Chinese New Year as traditionally as you can. Recipes for foods such as Jiaozi (Chinese noodles) and egg rolls are to be found online and they will go a long way towards creating the right atmosphere. Add a few lettuce wraps and longevity noodles and you will have a good basis for a Chinese New Year meal.

The only other thing you need then to make your Chinese New Year celebrations go with a bang (quite literally) is fireworks. The Chinese New Year would not be the same without them, so choose your food carefully, either buy it or cook it (or both) and then let off your fireworks safely for a great winters evening's entertainment.

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Drinks That Go Well In The Winter Months

By Amy Rockwell

There's nothing quite like a warm drink to warm your insides in the long, cold days of winter. There are a variety of hot drinks which hit the spot, so why not try something a bit different when you get home and snuggle in front of the fire. These are just a few of our favorite winter warmers.

IF you are looking for some new drinks to try, have a look at a few of our suggestions here. They are all extremely tasty and really hit the spot.

To kick off we have the classic hot chocolate, add whipped cream and marshmallows if you want extra sweetness. This is a versatile beverage and there are a few ways to enjoy it.

Peppermint, on the other hand, really gives a lovely, minty flavor to the chocolate. This can be doing a few drops of essence, or even a candy cane. If you are a fan of minted chocolate you will love this.

Why not try hot chocolate the way it should be made, and not the pale imitations that come from instant powders. Melt a bar of chocolate by pouring hot milk over it and then just stir until the chocolate is fully dissolved. If you are used to using powder, you'll be amazed at the difference in the taste.

If you fancy something a bit different as your hot winter drink, why not try something fruity? An apple drink such as Cider is both warming and delicious; add a few spices for extra warmth.

This is just Cider that has been heated up and had some spices added. If that sweet tooth of yours needs satisfying, try some Caramel in it.

If you are a fan of Hazelnut coffee, why not throw some chocolate into the mix by adding Nutella to your coffee? This drink then ends up almost like a dessert, and you will be pleasantly surprised by how well the 3 flavors combine.

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Ways To Fascinate People With Your Food Specialty

By Geraldine Hopkins

Those who enjoy making gourmet food are always eager to demonstrate to their friends and relatives for them to taste the delicious dishes they like making. A more useful way to let people sample your favorite and best dishes would be to start a wholesale food business. In this way, you would be able to make money as you continue to serve people with wonderfully made food.

When you get to start this kind of business, the first thing is to invite the friends or relatives to just come and sample the food free of charge and as they do so they will be coming back for more. It is a means of getting contacts and clients for your business.

You could also go as a volunteer at a school function or a place like that where your cooking will be sampled by all. If you take time to make as many varieties as possible for such occasions, you will soon find parents and staff, asking about your dishes.

Once you finish with this, the next step will be to serve at small parties and gatherings at house functions. People will soon begin to ask for more of your food, and this will give you a good client base.

Anytime you get an invitation to attend a dinner party, offer to bring something along. Very soon you will find that you have built a good list of wholesale gourmet choices that can fascinate your friends.

As people begin to get interested in you and the selfless way you offer to feed people, you will form many friends who will be commenting about your food most of the time. That is a clever way of winning customers and very soon you will be making some sales on the side.

Another wonderful way of promoting what you do will be to join some community events to help you increase your circle of friends or if you like, customers. It might just be offering to run a booth at a fundraiser, either for a school, church or a community center. It will help to showcase your best food items.

Remember not to waste food even if you want people to familiarize so much with your dishes, but use modest portions that you can afford to give them at reasonable prices in order to cover your costs. These will eventually be made up for in the future when the business begins to pick up.

Carry with you some of your best dishes as you go to different functions, and your list of gourmet food items will continue to grow on people's pallets. Soon they will start looking for you to sell to them.

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Monday, August 16, 2010

The Very Expense In Order To Open Up A Very Good Eatery In Raleigh, North Carolina

By T. Rutledge

So you are planning on opening up a cafe in Raleigh. Right now there is quite the marketplace demand for reasonable bistros in the Raleigh locale, you just simply have to complete a little bit of homework before you "take your plunge". Inside this specific guide we will be concentrating on the very cost to open a Eatery. Here are undoubtedly several of the particular goods which you are going to need to invest in:

The Spot

You are probably going to require to rent a place for starters. The actual price most typically associated with this can fluctuate depending upon the locality. A large city may charge you close to $40 per sq . foot, however , you possibly can expect to get the very same volume of property a good deal more cost-effective in a rural area. Coupled with the actual lease you'll find the additional expenses of taxes, insurance plans, as well as maintenance. It's not at all unusual for these kinds of expenditures to total close to 9-11% of yearly gross sales.

The Dimensions

Another issue you've got to take into consideration is undoubtedly the size of the actual restaurant you intend to open up. As you can very well imagine, a little bistro with twenty-five seats can cost you a lot less than a bigger bistro having 175 seats.

The Kind of Food

The Type of food you plan to serve will surely have a tremendous effect on your costs. If you are planning on starting a sea food Eatery lobster might get very costly. Additionally , it can end up being expensive to keep lobsters as they quite simply will need refrigeration. If you're planning on beginning a "rice and beans" Eatery you should not have to worry about food expenditures as much. A small caf or coffee shop can have minimal cuisine costs.

All of the Permits

You do not reckon that the government would not want to know precisely what you were doing did you? The permits you will require will have to be figured into the money necessary for opening your restaurant. Permit costs can range originating from a few hundred to several thousands of us dollars, which means that you ought to be certain to carry out all your homework.

The Cosmetics

Here's one place exactly where expenditures can mount up. You choose your own cafe to appear the very best, and this will certainly require acquiring fittings, photographs, lamps, fresh paint, dinnerware, table cloths...the checklist goes on. Depending on how involved you desire to be these kinds of costs can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

All the Marketing and Advertising

Once you have your cafe all set you will definitely want to notify the public about it. Viable possibilities are the airwaves, newspapers, television, journals, and business cards. This is a ımportant expenditure, and the actual benefit is most likely the people that arrive at your restaurant to dine and relax.

Your Inventory

You may need a number of day-to-day goods to run your own bistro. Think about each of the groceries, vegetables, liquids, cookware, etc. which you are going to have to have. Obligations of this kind can easily add upwards to $10,000 or maybe more...

The Conclusion

One of the essential matters you can bear in mind whenever opening a Eatery is the financial aspect. You'll have to make certain you have got ample funds to be able to enable you to get up and running, and also keep you progressing until the consumers show up. All of the best on your new restaurant venture.

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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Pizza Delivery The Easiest Weekday Dinner Solution.

By Marcus Hall

Today the majority of households have two working parents who can find it overwhelming, at times, to come home after a long day and start cooking a healthy three-course meal. One of the best inexpensive solutions is to order pizza delivery or takeaway.

pizza delivery is a very healthy choice depending on the toppings chosen to put on the crust. With several types of crusts to choose from along with all the toppings, keeping the pie healthy can become a bit overwhelming. It is healthiest to stick with vegetables and tomato sauce on a thin crust. If meat is desired chicken is a low fat option. If flavour is what you seek, the choices are abundant with toppings of nuts, herbs, spices, and even fruits. Flavoured crusts are becoming more and more common along with crusts stuffed with cheese. Most pizzerias offer appetizers, salads, desserts and beverages to accompany your meal; with all the choices pleasing family members will be easy to do.

When ordering pizza delivery via phone always ask for what special is offered. It is common for pizzerias to offer a daily special not advertise elsewhere. If ordering over the Internet, as is commonly done nowadays, the specials will be advertised on the website. Most pizzerias will call to confirm the pizza order is legitimate; this happens whether the order is via phone or Internet.

Pizza delivery in Leeds is not an easy job for the one delivering the pizza. It is common courtesy to tip the delivery person when there is no delivery surcharge. Even if a surcharge exists it is courteous to tip considering the cost of fuel and especially if the pizzas arrive hot and in a timely manner.

Takeaway, takeout or pizza delivery is truly one of the best options out there for a healthy meal which can be enjoyed by all members of your family. It is quick, easy and inexpensive. All it requires is for one to keep in mind healthy food choices in order to create the best pie possible for your family.

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

Stuffed Lamb With Grits And Minced Meat

By Samar Ibrahim

Stuffing meat with rice or grains is very common in the Arab world. It's very common in countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, etc. to find in the plushiest banquets dishes of rice or grains served with meat. There are many rice and meat dishes with different cooking styles and spices.

Biryani is one of the most popular Indian dishes in the gulf as it's a combination of rice and meat or poultry or seafood, and sometimes only vegetables. The dish was known due to the remarkable presence of the Indians in the Arab countries.

This is one of my favorite dishes as it reminds me of my childhood. I lived with my parents in Dubai, and my uncle whom I loved a lot lived in Ras Al Khaimah, also a city in the UAE about 2hours from Dubai by car. We visited my uncle very often and as a child, I really enjoyed staying there. My uncle was a very generous man. His wife excelled in cooking the finest food and used the best of spices. Meat and rice was a very common dish my uncle's wife made and I really enjoyed eating there. These were the good old days!

Lamb Stuffing Ingredients:

1 kg grits (cleaned and soaked in water for 1 hr.)
60 gms chickpeas
60 gms green peas
1 kg minced meat
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
salt, black pepper and ginger powder according to taste
2 tablespoons ground cardamom
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 Maggie lamb cubes
4 tablespoons sunflower oil

Grits Mixture Ingredients:

This is the mixture that will be served in a dish and the stuffed lamb will be kept on top of it.
1 kg grits
1 kg minced meat
1/2 kg almonds (boiled then peeled and sliced length ways into half)
60 gms chickpeas
60 gms green peas
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves salt, black pepper and ginger powder according to taste
2 tablespoons ground cardamom
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 Maggie lamb cubes
4 tablespoons sunflower oil

Lamb Marination Ingredients:

In this mixture, the lamb will be soaked for 3 hrs.
1 glass olive oil
1 glass lemon juice
1/2 glass garlic vinegar (can be substituted with vinegar)
1 large onion
10 garlic cloves
3 big tablespoons mayonnaise
1 glass yogurt
3 tablespoons ground cardamom

Preparation Method:

1. Wash the lamb well from inside and outside, rub well with salt, minced onion and vinegar. Cover the lamb and refrigerate it overnight. Next day, wash it well from inside and outside and dry it well from inside and outside using a small clean towel. Make holes or long cuts in the lamb to allow marination ingredients to penetrate the meat.

2. Lamb Marination Method: Mix all the lamb marination ingredients in the blender and soak the lamb in the ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hrs. Later, sprinkle with salt, black pepper, ginger powder and your favorite spices but don't exaggerate because this has a negative opposite effect on the taste.

3. Lamb Stuffing Method: Chop the onions and garlic into very small cubes and stir them in oil until they become tender but not brown. Add the minced meat, spices and Maggie cubes. Cover and cook on very low heat until meat is cooked. Add very little water if required from time to time to prevent the meat from burning (very little water from time to time if required). Add the chickpeas, green peas and grits (grits must be cleaned, washed well and soaked in water for 1 hr before usage, remove grits from soaking water before usage.). Add water to the mixture, cover and cook on low heat. (Don't cover the mixture with water while cooking; this mixture should be semi cooked)

4. Use this mixture to fill the lamb and close the lamb's stomach with sticks or using the cooking string. Wrap the lamb well with several foil layers to prevent it from burning. Maybe four foil layers. Put the lamb wrapped in foil layers in a tray in the oven on very low heat for 3 hrs. and check the lamb from time to time. If the lamb is not yet red in colour even after cooking it, you can remove the foil and expose it to the grill for 5 min.

5. Grits Mixture Method: Meanwhile, let's prepare the grits mixture that the stuffed lamb will be served on. This mixture is cooked the same way the "Lamb Stuffing Method" is cooked. Check point no. 3. The only difference is that the mixture will not be semi cooked, it will be fully cooked so, we'll cover the mixture well with water and cook on low heat. Meanwhile, in a frying pan, fry the almonds until golden. (Almonds should be boiled for 5 min. then peeled and cut length ways as seen in picture first before frying them.)

6. In a big dish spread the grits and Minced meat mixture first and sprinkle with almonds, put on top of it the lamb and again sprinkle with almonds again. Garnish with lemon slices. This dish can be served with yogurt, coleslaw or Fatoush salad. I will mention later in the "salad" section how to make Fatoush salad.

Enjoying Alcoholic Drinks

By Owen Jones

In the West, alcoholic drinks are never far away from the scene at festive times, but do we aways know how to get the most from these costly luxuries? Too many people these days just think its a question of 'getting as much down as possible in as little time as possible'. This is the wrong approach.

After all, most people realize that a good meal does not consist of eating as many chips as possible in fifteen minutes, so why should that principle not apply to having a drink too? You will get far more pleasure from a bottle of wine, if you spend an extra dollar on it and drink it slowly with a friend and some appropriate food than if you swill down a cheap bottle of plonk on your own. It makes evident sense, but not everyone realizes it.

So, with that thought in mind, I have put together a few tips on how to get more enjoyment from your alcoholic drinks, if you are old enough and of that turn of mind.

Gin and Vodka - if these white spirits are your proffered tipple, always keep the bottle in the fridge, not the drinks cupboard. Keep the mixers in the fridge too. That way the ice will last longer and you will not be tempted to have to swig it down before the ice melts. If you are having friends around, go one step further and put the bottle in the freezer. It will not go solid. You can even cut the top off a plastic cola bottle, put the bottle of gin or vodka in that, fill it with water and then freeze it. Take off the plastic bottle and you have an attractive "collar of ice" around your bottle.

The Last Tot - five minutes or so after finishing a bottle of spirits, tip it out one more time and the bottle that you thought was drained will deliver one more tot of contents. It is not a lot, but it is a pleasant free surprise. The same works for many alcohol based products including underarm roll-on and scent.

White Wine - white wines taste best when they have been gently chilled over a prolonged period, but if you get taken by surprise visitors, put the bottle of wine in a container of ice and cold water. Try not to have to place it in the deep freeze, it is too harsh, but if you must, then ten minutes is all that it requires.

Port - it is always better to decant port and older, heavier red wines, because of the sediment that may be in the bottom of the bottle, which tastes horrible and because it assists the aeration of the wine. However, it is not always easy to see when the dregs are coming. The books say to use a candle, but they were written a hundred years ago. The concentrated beam from a torch is much better. Try using a Durabeam because its rotateable head allows it to be directed more accurately.

Decanters - sometimes the stopper becomes stuck fast. Tap it with another glass item and it should come free. If not, run the neck of the decanter under hot water for a few seconds and it will come out.

Labels - if you store your wine in a damp place where the labels are likely to rot or fall off, spray them with hair lacquer first.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Is A Vegetarian Diet Safe For My Child?

By Charles Carr

If you've been a vegetarian for any length of time, and you have kids of your own, then you may already have thought about getting them onto a vegetarian diet as well. Not only would it make your life easier in terms of preparing meals, but you may also believe a vegetarian diet would be a better, healthier option for your kids.

Interestingly enough, many children go through a vegetarian phase irrespective of whether or not their parents are vegetarians. When they go through this stage they tend to reject almost all types of meat, and this often results in parents becoming concerned about the child's nutritional intake, particularly if the child isn't eating enough other healthy foods.

Either way, you're probably wondering whether or not a vegetarian diet would be a healthy choice for your kids, although at the same time, you may have heard rumors that vegetarian diets can stunt a child's growth.

These concerns probably prevented you from putting your child on a vegetarian diet up to this point.

Now, nobody is saying that these concerns aren't legitimate, but providing a vegetarian diet is well planned, you will have very little to worry about as far as long term and short term vitamin and mineral deficiencies are concerned.

With that said, if you've not yet done any research regarding vegetarian diets, then it may not be wise to put your children on a vegetarian diet at this point. On the other hand, if you have done your research, and you've familiarize yourself with the types of nutrients a typical vegetarian diet can lack, you'll also know that such deficiencies can easily be overcome with proper meal planning.

You will probably be aware that putting your child on a vegetarian diet can greatly improve his or her health and limit the exposure to animal products that are often linked to hormones and preservatives.

To begin your child on a vegetarian diet you should make sure that you your meal-planning ensures enough of the following elements that vegetarian diets lack:

1) Protein - make sure that your child is getting enough protein from additional sources such as nuts and soybeans.

2) Calcium - The calcium content of a vegetarian diet can be significantly enhanced simply by including plenty of fresh leafy greens.

3) Iron - the amount of iron in your child's diet can be increased by adding more beans, soybeans, and cereals.

4) Zinc - zinc intake can be enhanced by increasing the amount of nuts, mushrooms, and peanut butter in their diet.

If you concentrate on compensating for all of these common deficiencies that vegetarian diets lack, then, you can absolutely put your child on a vegetarian diet without any negative consequences.

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Tips When Using Honey In Baking Your Sweets

By Heidi Canister

Just because you want to live a health lifestyle it does not mean that you cannot cook your own sweets. You could try to cook things without sugar and just replace it with honey instead. Honey metabolizes slower in your system so you do not get that same high as you would when eating sugar.

Many people do not think about using honey as a substitute because it can sometimes be a little awkward to use when cooking. But it does not have to be that way because honey can in fact be quite easy to use once you know how to handle it properly.

The first thing that people always pick up on is that honey has a tendency to burn quite easily on a high heat. Well that does not have to be a problem as you can just lower the heat slightly and cook things a little slower.

Another problem with using honey for some culinary delights is that it is basically a liquid and as such it can ruin some sweets if you are not careful.

When making items such as cookies or cakes, honey could be a bit of a problem unless you actually decrease the amount of liquid that you would normally use and replace it with the honey. Other items such as muffins should not really constitute a problem when using honey.

If you plan to use the honey in your pie fillings then you should not really encounter many problems. But if for some reason you think that the filling is a little runny then you just need to thicken it a little before adding the honey.

Some people will not use the honey because they say that the taste is too strong. If you think like that then you could try using a milder honey instead such as clover honey.

You could even use another type of sweetener if you think that the honey will detract from the taste that you want to acquire.

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Saturday, August 7, 2010

Great Pizza Styles

By Andy Garris

I live in a city that many say boasts the best pizza in the world. New York is a wonderful place, and you'd be hard pressed to walk a few blocks in any commercial neighborhood without finding a pizzeria.

As a result, I've had the privilege of enjoying a very wide variety of slices and styles. During my time spent eating this delicious treat, I've come across some pretty interesting types and I'd like to share a few of them with you today.

If you appreciate creative cookery, I'm sure you'd like to try these suggestions. Made at home or ordered from a restaurant, I'm sure you'll agree they're a real treat.

The first specialty pizza I would recommend is the mac and cheese. Yes, it is unusual as far as pizzas go, but try it and you'll agree with me that it tastes good, especially with breadcrumbs on top.

Another top seller in New York's pizzerias is the spinach artichoke version. Just like a regular spinach pizza, it also has artichokes and creamy cheeses in the topping. I've heard people call it the best pizza ever.

If, like me, you're fond of buffalo chicken, you'll just love it on a hot pizza crust. When you bite into a buffalo chicken slice you'll think you're in heaven with all of the strong flavors blending so well together.

For added flavor, have extra blue cheese on your pizza or a bowl of blue cheese dip. It can really liven up plain crust.

Hopefully one of these three creative pizza ideas ends up inspiring you. I love each of the three, and I'd love to see you enjoy them all as much as I do.

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Wedding Menus, Low Budget Doesn't Mean Low Class

By Paul Woods

When planning a wedding you can expect to spend a lot of your budget on food, and do not view it as a fixed sum since it is normally influenced by the menu and how elaborate it is as well as by the number of guests that may also vary quite a lot until the big day arrives. A budget wedding menu may seem like a strange and unfamiliar notion to a lot of you. Yet with a bit of wit and creativity you can have a delightful yet money-saving wedding menu.

Try to schedule your wedding at a time of the day when people will not be expecting a meal so that you can make do with snacks, finger foods and desserts. A lunch or a dinner menu will obviously be more expensive than a snack menu even if you just choose a three course meal. If you want to go with this idea, the best time to set your wedding reception would be between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., as it is too late for lunch and too early for dinner. The buffet style is the most suitable for this type of wedding reception, not to mention a budget menu, as the wedding guests can make up their own plates of appetizers and snacks.

Ideally a budget main menu should consist of cake, drinks and hors d'oeuvres, and the snacks can be a variety of no-crust mouth-watering sandwiches elegantly displayed on the buffet tables. This will be followed by desserts and a money-saving and elegant arrangement of delectable cookies and candies is a great choice. You could also use Danish wedding cookies and/ or small chocolates for an expensive looking three tiered display. With such a variety of food on the buffet tables you can be certain that your wedding will have an elegant and classy feel about it and your budget won't suffer in the least.

When you are budgeting the drinks for your wedding, you should consider sodas, bottled water and punch, rather than alcoholic drinks since these can really put a hole in your wedding budget. This way you can offer your guests a variety of beverage yet keep the cost under control.

At any wedding party you are bound to find at least one or two guests who are more concerned with their health and weight, so try to remember them when you are planning your wedding menu. A couple of vegetable trays with a variety of colorful vegetables should be perfect for them. The good news is that you won't have great expenses even if you have a wide array of vegetables on large trays. Go for vegetables of different colors like carrots, sliced bell pepper in different colors, celery, cauliflower, cucumber etc.

Instead of sea food or beef opt for chicken or a vegetarian menu; a chicken entree should be ideal if you intend to serve a full meal. And do not forget that a sit-down style meal will not go well with a budget wedding menu, but with a buffet style you can't go wrong. You can couple a lot of finger foods with a substantial entree like vegetable lasagna or a chicken dish.

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Friday, August 6, 2010

Dinner For The Family

By Bill Jones

At the dinner table is a great time for familys to get together and enjoy some quality time with each other. It's actually been proven that family's who eat together seem to have a better chance of having a better relationship with each other, and this is very important to have.

The key to having family dinners is to make good foods that the whole family enjoys. There are many different things that can be made, just look at all of the options that are available to you at your local grocery store. You can be simple and make stuff such as Hamburger Helper and boxed Macaroni and Cheese. Or you can make something a little more complicated such as fried chicken.

Let's take chicken as an example. This of course only applies if your whole family likes chicken, but there are literally hundreds of ways to prepare chicken. There's barbaqued chicken, grilled chicken, fried chicken, and many many more. There's usually always a way to make chicken that everyone enjoys.

It's always great to have desserts for your family also. I wouldn't go through the hassle of making a dessert every single night for your family, but it's good to have desserts at your house about once a week or so. This really makes everyone happy.

A real great thing to make as a dessert is to make some pudding. Pudding is an extremely simple dessert to make and it's liked by a lot of people. If you don't want to just make basic pudding then you can put a layer of grahm crackers underneath a layer of pudding and then let it cool in the refridgerator.

You can also make brownies as a dessert. Brownies are essentially like pudding in that they are easy to make and are liked by almost everyone. Brownies can also be gotten for relatively cheap to, so it's a cheap dessert also like pudding.

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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Thinking Of A Unique Gift Idea As A Token Of Appreciation

By Jasper Dunkin

Giving of gifts is now a lifestyle that has been accepted in the whole world, and people are giving gifts left and right, for all sorts of occasions. They celebrate different events but the use of gourmet foods is now the in thing.

What used to be an ordinary affair has now taken a different dimension. The effort and sentiment being put into gifts to make them very special has now taken center stage in the art of gifts.

People are going to great lengths to give only the perfect and acceptable gifts that are suitable for every occasion being celebrated. So this is why it is important for one to get to know the gift etiquette for the modern man. The mode and expectations vary from one culture to the next and even in the different religions practiced on the face of the earth. So now the business and the art of preparing gifts are beginning to preoccupy people's minds and lifestyles. They look at things like the choice, packaging and presentation of the gift.

To top it all, there is a new trend of giving what is now commonly known as gourmet foods. Things like beverages, wines, teas, coffee, chocolates, cheese and even meats and condiments are now being offered as gourmet gifts. They are the best and specially presented foods.

Now different companies and even individuals are doing the gourmet gifts as a business. They prepare very wonderful gifts for people to buy for others. These can be expensive but gifts need not be expensive, you can easily make something special and wrap it lovingly to show your love and caring for the person getting the gift.

In the past some foods and items were secretly reserved for some special people in the society. Such foods could not be allowed for the commoners but was only used by the royalty and the wealthy in the society.

It is now very easy to see the wealthy, the high and mighty spoiling themselves with rare foods that are imported from different parts of the world, and usually with what the ordinary man cannot get. It makes them feel on top of the world.

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