Whole-meal Salads: The Perfect Warm-weather Meal

Hearty salads made with whole grains, beans, vegetables and a variety of other ingredients should star on your menus, especially in the warm months. If you’re not familiar with whole grains, visit the Nutrition section of my web site (see the link below); I explain all about how to cook them, where to find them, and why they are so important for healthful eating. Try these favorite recipes and then experiment with your own variations.

Summer Barley-Bean Salad

2 cups cooked barley

1 15-oz. can pink or kidney beans, drained

2 vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped

1 cucumber, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1 T. Dijon mustard

1/2 cup fat-free Italian dressing

Potato Salads - Three Easy, Healthful Recipes

Potato salads are not just for picnics! They’re good year-round, and the variations are endless. Try adding chunks of red-skinned potatoes to just about any tossed salad recipe, or make your own versions of my recipes by adding any other ingredients you like.

I never peel potatoes for salads. The skins of the red ones are pretty in a salad and if you throw them away, you waste their fiber. Just scrub the potatoes with a plastic scouring pad.

Favorite Potato Salad
6 red potatoes
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup non-fat yoghurt
1/4 cup dijon mustard
2 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 cup snipped fresh dill
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup no-fat mayonnaise

Pasta: Fabulous Gourmet Recipes

FABULOUS PASTA RECIPES

LINGUINE THAI PRAWN BALLS

• 1 pkt (375grams) Plain Linguini
  
• 200g green King Prawns pealed and chopped
  
• 80g bean shoots
  
• 1 bunch Coriander. Leaves and roots, roughly chopped
  
• 1 bunch Basil, roughly chopped
  
• 50g peanuts, roughly chopped
  
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
  
• 2 Kaffir lime leaves finely sliced
  
• 4tbsp seafood curry paste
  
• 3 free range eggs
  
• 150g rice flour
  
• Vegetable Oil for deep frying
  

Method

Cook Plain Linguine in salted, boiling water until al dente, then drain. Place linguine in a large Mixing bowl. Add prawns, bean shoots, coriander, basil, peanuts, ginger, lime leaves, curry paste and eggs.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Traditions

There are many traditions that every family has that make them unique. Through my years of working with families through a social services agency I came to realize that no matter how dysfunctional a family is there are still some sorts of traditions that bond them together. My husband’s family is quite close. Most of their traditions involve hunting, fishing and food.

Vegetarian Soup Recipe

Here are 3 great vegetarian soup recipes for you to make and try.

ARTICHOKE SOUP.

1 lb. each of artichokes and potatoes, 1 Spanish onion, 1 oz. of butter, 1 pint of milk, and pepper and salt to taste.

Peel, wash, and cut into dice the artichokes, potatoes, and onion. Cook them until tender in 1 quart of water with the butter and seasoning. When the vegetables are tender rub them through a sieve. Return the liquid to the saucepan, add the milk, and boil the soup up again. Add water if the soup is too thick. Serve with Allinson plain rusks, or small dice of bread fried crisp in butter or vege-butter.

CARROT SOUP.

Masala Buttermilk

Recipe for Masala Buttermilk

Curd

Coriander leaves

Curry leaves

Ginger

Green chilly

Salt

Procedure

To prepare buttermilk curd is the prime raw material required. Beat the curd in a mixie or beater for 15 - 20 seconds. I hope you know how to prepare curd. It is simple. Boil the whole milk, cool it to room temperature and then add starter culture at 1% level. For e.g. for every one litre of milk, 10 ml of starter culture is required. It is easy and ideal to use the already available curd as a source of starter culture. After adding the starter culture to the milk, thoroughly mix it and leave it undisturbed at room temperature overnight if the prevailing atmospheric temperature is around 30°C. In temperate climate, it is better to keep the milk in an incubator at 32 - 37°C for 8-10 hours. Now the curd is ready.

What Exactly Is A Crockpot?

The word ‘crockpot’ is a name which is actually a trademarked name, but is often used as a generic term. The terms ‘crockpot’ and ’slow cooker’ have come to be used interchangeably.

‘Rival’ is the original holder of the trademarked term ‘Crock-Pot’.

The Rival Crock-Pot / slow cooker has been one of the most important cooking tools for busy families since its introduction in 1971. Slow cooking is a great way to provide delicious home cooked meals for people and families on the go and produces flavorful meals time after time.

This appliance is made of fired clay and is usually glazed and surrounded by a metallic housing. It contains a controlled heating element to maintain the slow cooker temperatures whuich allow food to be cooked over longer periods of time.

A Few Steps To Good Grilling

There’s nothing better than a perfectly grilled juicy steak.

But it is a mystery to me how to duplicate that restaurant quality, melt-in-your mouth, exactly how you like it steak.

Well heres the thing, I recently found out how to achieve that perfectly grilled steak.

Number 1. Choose your meat very carefully!!! Lean meat does not do well. You want a piece that has good marbling. And these are good cuts: fillet (mignon), top loin (rib eye) - these are the same as the ones you love in the restaurant.

Number 2. Next, it is very important that the grill is heated properly. If you are using charcoal, spread over half the coals on one side and the remaining on the opposing side. This works well for searing the meat on one side and on the cooler side is good for cooking the meat

How Do You Find The Best Restaurants Using The Internet?

First, we have to define what we mean by “best.” If that equates to the quality of food, can a food critic do that for you? Don’t we each have different likes and dislikes? Therefore, that would be problematic to seek out a website that just rates our food. Sure, it’s nice to have someone give us an opinion, but can we base our whole decision on one or two restaurant reviews? I think not.

Okay, let’s think of another “best.” Is it one that charges the most or the least? If it’s too cheap, will the food be lousy or cut-rate? If it’s too expensive, will it be over-priced or a place for the beautiful people to convene? Is price always a reasonable way of looking at the quality of the food or service anyway?

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe- Easy Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

This recipe makes a great chicken pot pie without preservatives (no need for them because this won’t stick around for long in your refrigerator).

2 (9-inch) deep dish frozen pie crusts, thawed
1 (15 oz.) can mixed vegetables, drained
2 cups chicken breast, cooked and diced
1 (10.75 oz.) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine the mixed vegetables, chicken, cream of chicken soup and milk. Pour mixture into one of the pie crusts. Turn over the other crust and pop it out of the tin and onto the top of the filled pie. Seal the edges and poke holes in top crust.

Bake for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

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