My child’s favorite meal is macaroni and cheese. The cheesier it is the better. I love it myself, but the cheesier it is, the more fattening it is, too. Here are some suggestions to make that family classic a little more nutritious for the kids. Add variety to the cheese. Macaroni and cheese is nothing unless it is oozing cheese from both ends of the noodle. But, the cheese your mother chose doesn’t have to be the same cheese that you choose. Choose Velveeta® Light cheese spread. The light variety has a third of the fat and melts even better than regular cheese. This cheese works great if you cook your macaroni and cheese in a pot on the stovetop. If you are the kind of person that bakes your macaroni and cheese like a casserole, you can substitute lowfast sharp cheddar for the full fat version and use skim milk to make it creamy. How about turning that side dish into the main meal? Macaroni and cheese can become the entire meal if you add some protein. Turn your side dish into a casserole dinner with lean ground beef. This turns your dish into cheesy beef and macaroni. The beef will help to fill your kids up faster and will give them the protein that their body needs. Add a teaspoon of chili powder to give it a southwestern flavor. For a weekend lunch, add chunks of ham to their macaroni and cheese for a quick meal. The meat breaks up the monotony of just having the same dish all of the time. Chunks of boneless chicken breasts will also work as well as the ham if your child prefers chicken. Hotdogs also work with macaroni and cheese but because of the nitrites they contain, don’t use them as often as you use the ham and chicken. Change your pasta. There are numerous healthful options to the generic macaroni pasta noodle. Now, grocers offer a whole wheat or multigrain pasta that is made from wheat flour instead of white. The pasta is brown in color but when you mix in the cheese, no one should know the difference. If brown pasta doesn’t do it for you, Barilla® makes pasta called Barilla Plus® that has additional nutrients to make it more nutritious for the eater. The pasta remains the natural yellowish color. Dreamfields® makes macaroni noodles that contain only five grams of digestible carbohydrates. That means little to your children, but to you it means that they won’t get fat from eating that specific brand. Add some color to their macaroni and cheese. Slice a tomato and mix it into the macaroni and cheese before serving it. The red makes a bold statement in the sea of yellow. Tomatoes provide antioxidants which are awesome for your body. If your children prefer spicy foods, mix in a few crushed red peppers or diced red and green peppers to their macaroni and cheese for a bolder flavor. If you don’t have any peppers or tomatoes on hand, use a cup of salsa in the macaroni and cheese in a pinch. What about breakfast? Your little ones would jump at the chance to eat macaroni and cheese for breakfast. Add a few slices of turkey bacon or reduced fat bacon to their plate. Crush the bacon on top of the macaroni and cheese and serve. If bacon is not appreciated by your child, add sausage crumbles. It’s unconventional, but it’ll taste good.
This very easy to make apple bundt cake that requires no fancy frosting or filling and is delicious for serving at breakfast, tea time or even as a birthday cake with a chocolate or with a fruit glaze covering. Of course, an apple cake is always great with your favorite ice cream too. You can be sure that your family and friends will love this easy to make home made apple bundt cake.
Ingredients:
2 cups of sugar
Rind of 1 lemon
4 medium or large eggs
1 cup of vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 large tart apples, grated
1/2 cup of raisins
Serves approximately 12 people (depending upon individual appetites)
Directions:
Mix the sugar and lemon rind quickly in the food processor.
Add eggs and blend until it becomes a nice cream.
Continue blending while slowly adding the oil.
Blend until it is well mixed then add the vanilla.
In a separate bowl sift the dry ingredients all together (flour, allspice, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon).
Mix the dry ingredients slowly into the batter blending until it becomes a nice thick cream.
Add grated apples and blend quickly into batter just to mix. Be sure not to overblend as this may shred the apples too much.
Add raisins and pulse the processor as to just mix them in and not shred them.
Bake for 55 minutes at 325°F or until sticking a knife into center comes out clean.
Black Forest Cake, is a chocolate cake with a strong cherry element to it which is popular throughout North America.
Called Schwarzwälderkirschtorte in German, which means Black Forest Cherry Torte (torte is the German word for cake).
The origin of this cake in unknown, but it is believed to have originated in the late 16th century in the Black Forest Region (Der Schwarzwald in German) located in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. The area is known for its sour cherries and Kirsch or Kirschwasser (a double distilled, clear cherry brandy made from the sour Morello cherry).
It is a chocolate layer cake with Kirsch, whipped cream, sour cherries and chocolate curls.
Ingredients:
Cake
4oz Irish butter
8oz brown sugar
4oz plain chocolate
7oz self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 pint sour cream
3 tablespoons strong cold black coffee
2 eggs
pinch of salt
Pastry Base
4oz cream flour
pinch of salt
2oz icing sugar
2oz/ Irish butter
1 egg yolk
a few drops of vanilla essence
Other:
1 pint cream
1lb tin black cherries
4 table spoons black cherry jam
brandy or cherry juice
4oz grated chocolate
Directions:
Cake:
Cream butter and sugar together well.
Melt the chocolate and beat into the creamed mixture, then mix in the eggs.
Sift flour, salt and cinnamon together.
Fold the dry mix lightly into the liquids, then fold in the sour cream and cold coffee.
Into a lined and greased 9-inch round, deep tin pour the cake mixture and bake for 1 hour, 25 minutes.
Set to cool on a wire rack.
Pastry Base:
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and bind until the mixture stiffens.
Roll the pastry onto a floured board worktable until pastry is about the same size as the base of the tin.
Lay out on baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Assembly:
Whip cream until it holds its shape.
Put some cream into pastry piping bag with a star pipe attached, and reserve this for the decoration.
Slice the cake into 3 equal-sized layers.
Drain the cherries, reserve 8 for decoration and remove the stones from the remainder.
Put pastry on serving plate and spread the pastry with black cherry jam.
Soak the cakes with sprit used.
Put one layer of cake on top of coated pastry.
Spread a layer of cream with half the stoned cherries.
Put the second layer of cake and add another layer of cream and cherries.
Add the final layer of the cake.
mask the entire cake with the remaining cream and press on the grated chocolate. Decorate the top with piped rosettes
of cream and the reserved whole black cherries.
Tips:
Using 3 identical cake pans instead of 1 large is OK.
Margarine, vegetable oil or regular butter will substitute for Irish butter.
In some countries the brandy is often replaced by rum, in Germany itself it is almost always replaced by
Kirschwasser.
This recipe did not come with a temperature to bake at for either the pastry or cake. Cakes usually work at between
325°F and 400°F (160°C and 205°C). Pastries usually work at between 350°F and 425°F (175°C and 220°C).
Caribbean Shrimp Run Down
1 lb shell-on shrimp, uncooked
3 tablespoons lime or lemon juice
3 cups coconut milk
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
Finely chopped hot pepper to taste
1 lb. tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 t. fresh chopped thyme
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Peel and devein shrimp retaining tails. Pour the lime juice over the shrimp and set aside. Cook the coconut milk in a heavy frying pan until it is oily. Add the onion, garlic and cook until the onion is tender. Add the hot pepper, tomatoes, salt and pepper, thyme and vinegar. Stir and cook very gently for 10 minutes.
Drain the shrimp, add the other ingredients and cook until the shrimp is tender, about 10 minutes. Serve hot over rice. Preparation time: 30 minutes.
Coconut Shrimp Kabobs with Island Coconut Salsa
1 lb. shell-on shrimp, uncooked
1/3 cup coconut milk, canned and sweetened
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon red chili peppers, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
12 to 18 fresh pineapple chunks
Island Coconut Salsa
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 cup chopped green onion
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 to 2 teaspoons minced garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup olive oil or macadamia nut oil
Peel and devein shrimp retaining tails; set aside. Combine coconut milk, lime juice, garlic, red peppers, cumin, coriander and pepper; pour over shrimp. Marinate no more than 1 hour. Thread shrimp and pineapple chunks on skewers. Broil or grill, 3 minutes per side, or until shrimp are done. Arrange coconut shrimp on large lettuce leaves. Serve with Island Coconut Salsa on the side.
Coconut Beer Batter Fried Shrimp with Pineapple Salsa
2 eggs
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup beer
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
coconut oil
3 cups grated coconut
Seasoning mix:
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
2-1/4 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1-1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Thoroughly combine the ingredients for the seasoning mix in a small bowl and set aside.
Mix 1-1/4 cups of the flour, 2 teaspoons of the seasoning mix, baking powder, eggs, and beer together in a bowl, breaking up all lumps until it is smooth.
Combine the remaining flour with 1-1/2 teaspoons of the seasoning mix and set aside. Place the coconut in a separate bowl.
Sprinkle both sides of the shrimps with the remaining seasoning mix. Then hold each shrimp by the tail, dredge in the flour mixture, shake off excess, dip in batter and allow excess to drip off. Coat each shrimp with the coconut and place on a baking sheet.
Heat deep fryer to 350?F. Drop each shrimp into the hot oil and cook until golden brown, approximately 1/2 to 1 minute on each side. Do not crowd the fryer. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.
Lay shrimp on large lettuce leaves and serve with Pineapple Salsa dip. Garnish with lemon, orange, or lime wedges.
Pineapple Salsa
1 cup finely chopped fresh pineapple
1/3 cup chopped red onion, 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup pineapple preserves (or apricot-pineapple preserves)
1 tablespoon finely chopped seeded fresh jalapeno chili
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Combine ingredients and gently toss.
Coffee comes from two main beans, robusta and arabica. Both are grown in equatorial regions of the world, with the arabica grown at a higher altitude than the robusta. Robusta has the highest yield and largest amount of caffeine, but accounts for only about 30% of the world’s coffee.
With it’s delicate flavour and caramel aftertaste, Arabica is generally considered to be the superior coffee. All coffee blends are made from these two types, with the cheaper blends having a higher proportion of robusta beans. The various flavours are achieved by different roasting times.
American (regular) roast has a moderate flavour due to beans being roasted moderately, while French and dark French roasts are really dark and strong and a dark chocolate colour due to the longer roasting time. Italian is a strong roast used for espresso coffee, while European and Viennese roasts are all made from various blends of slight, medium and dark roasted beans
The instant coffee that we all know is made from freshly brewed coffee that has been heat-dried, while freeze-dried coffee is freshly brewed and frozen into a slush from which the water is evaporated. The flavour is said to be superior.
Decaffeinated coffee is still real coffee. It’s just that the caffeine has been removed from the beans by a chemical process before they are crushed. The chemical disappears during the roasting process so it is quite safe.
Figuring out where to go on vacation, for vegetarian tourists quite often turns out as a “little problem”. Being vegetarians a significant minority of the population, most of the countries do not really focus on them. Nevertheless there is Japan, India, Thailand and most of the Asian destinations which really do offer quite a wide variety of vegetarian cuisine. But what about Europe?
Europe surely is not very famous for its meatless dishes. Italy, however, is a real rock concerning this matter. With its Mediterranean diet, famous all over the world for loosing weight and not having to hunger, it offers a huge amount of receipts based on vegetarian ingredients. Italian cuisine also puts its focus on genuine ingredients.
Having Italy this mild climate which is perfect for the agriculture, a lot of fresh products and ingredients are available all over the year. Besides the very famous Extra Vergine Olive Oil, the Minestrone and the Caprese (tomatoes, mozzarella and basil), Italy really takes care about its vegetarian gourmets. Even if there are not that many explicit vegetarian restaurants, serving only vegetarian dishes, it is no problem at all! Any restaurant, osteria or trattoria has plenty of meatless dishes in its menu: a wide variety of starters, pasta and grilled vegetables just to mention some.
Not only you can consume delicious dishes, but you even can learn how to prepare them: many of the Italian hotels and country inns above all, include in their packages cooking courses. So people can stay an entire week or as long as they like and participate in cooking classes. There tourists can learn how to make bread, olive oil, the so very prestigious Italian wines, but also entire menus. Many country inns in Tuscany made a real cult of these cooking classes, as well as in the Amalfi Coast where in Furore, the Furore Inn Resort, a 5 star hotel based on wellness with a 600 m² wide wellness area includes in its offers cooking courses in a beautiful kitchen with an amazing view overlooking the sea.
Obviously, this new trend has made its way throughout the country. Cooking classes are held in accommodations all over Italy, where, between sightseeing tours in medieval towns and hours of relax on the beautiful beaches it is also possible to take home some culinary Italian experience.
Every year, as winter fades away and the air warms up marking the advent of spring, many hearts are filled with the cravings of a wonderful fruit which offers a perfect combination of health and taste. They are none other than watermelons. Watermelons, with water content of almost 90%, are America’s favorite thirst quencher. Not only are watermelons well known for their great taste and for being a cool thirst quencher, they are also famous for their nutritional value.
Watermelon serves as an excellent source of vital vitamins like vitamin C, A, B6 and B1. Moreover they contain a fair amount of lycopene, which effectively reduces the risk of prostate cancer. They are also rich in potassium and quite low on sodium. Lycopene, being an anti-oxidant, is specially required by human body to fight disorders and build up immunity. Consuming this healthy fruit provides the nutrient in plenty.
Watermelons are grown in 44 states of the continental U.S.A. In the west, they are grown in California and Arizona. Florida, Georgia and Texas are the eastern states where watermelons are normally grown. Even during the New Year, watermelons can be imported from Mexico. However, the main season for domestic melons is from May to the end of October when they are more popularly used for carving for Halloween.
However, all these qualities of watermelons depend, to a great extent, on the method used for storing them. Handling and storage of these fruits do not require plenty of procedures. In fact, the process is quite simple as compared to many other fruits. But there are certain steps to follow in order to store them properly, not only to retain the taste but also to keep the nutritional content intact.
Watermelons grow mainly during the warm or hot months of the year. Hence it is pretty clear that it would be best to store them in a warmer temperature. It is true that they taste great when served cold, specially iced. But when it comes to storage, keeping them in cold destroys their texture, taste and also their health value. Almost 55 degrees of temperature is ideal for the watermelons to retain all their goodness. However, at room temperature, they can still be preserved for about 7 to 10 days.
It is observed that watermelons stored under room temperature or warmer temperature produces more lycopene and beta-carotene than they generally do even after they are freshly picked. It has also been observed that if stored in 32 degrees Fahrenheit for just a couple of days, these fruits tend to lose their color and become pitted. So the best option to store these melons once they are cut is to wrap it up and store them under a temperature of at least 37 degrees to 39 degrees Fahrenheit.
A lesser important, but necessary melon-handling information that might be useful for serving the wonderful fruit with all its flavors would be on how to remove the seeds. Removing the seeds is not typically problematic if the right procedure is followed. A quarter of the watermelons need to be washed and cut into 3 or 4 wedges. Using a paring knife to lift a piece after cutting lengthwise along the seed line would be good enough for serving the fruit. It would then be pretty easy to scrape off the seeds with the help of a fork. Watermelons, if handled and stored properly, are unmatchable when it comes to taste and great nutritional values.
So deciding where to have dinner may not exactly qualify as one of humanity’s most crucial choices but it doesn’t mean that you should just pig out at the nearest dining dumpster either. Food, after all, is not merely a physiological necessity; it also happens to be one of life’s greatest pleasures and should be thoroughly enjoyed in the best possible manner. Thus, it is only appropriate that the choice of a restaurant be given its rightful consideration.
Let’s start off with the basics. One of the most important criteria in choosing a dining spot is cleanliness. Before even bothering with star rating, a restaurant must at least pass sanitary requirements. You don’t want to worry about intestinal disorders while having dinner, do you? Be wary of flies hovering around, messy tables, stinky smells, or spilled food stuck on the floor. A filthy bathroom is a very bad sign. If a restaurant doesn’t look clean in the areas you can see, then imagine the sanitary conditions in the areas you can’t see, like the kitchen for instance.
Another indicator of the quality of a dining establishment is the number of its customers. Restaurants who have a steady stream of diners are more likely able to provide good food and great service. You may also ask your friends for recommendations. It is also helpful to consult restaurant reviews for a more professional opinion. Keep in mind though that the respectable opinion of your friends and the food critics in your local newspaper are based on their own palates and may not agree with your own unique taste.
If the dinner you’re planning happens to be a romantic date or an important business meeting, it would be worth your while to conduct your own reconnaissance of the restaurant. Befriend the bartender or the maître d’. Check out the menu and the wine list. Take note of the lighting, amount of noise, and interior design. And make sure to make a quick trip to the restroom before you leave. Of course, it’s not always possible to make an advanced personal inspection of each restaurant you want to eat at but doing so would definitely increase the certainty of an excellent meal.
These days, most restaurants, especially the fancy ones, already maintain their own websites. These sites usually feature the menu, house specialties, wine selections, additional services, and some even cater to online reservations. There are also sites which contain comprehensive listings and reviews of dining spots in a particular city or community. With the wealth of resources about restaurants on the internet, it’s much easier for you to check out the eateries in your area without having to step out of the house.
Finally, your choice of a dining spot ultimately depends on the kind of dining experience you want to have. Are you aiming for a gastronomic adventure or would you prefer a more familiar and comfortable dinner? Do you want to taste a specific cuisine? Or a certain specialty perhaps? Your particular preferences, as well as those of your dining companion/s of course, are invaluable in coming up with that all-important decision of choosing where to eat.
