Sonic Supper!

For years, the news about coffee vacillated between positive and negative. At the same time, study after study extolled the health virtues of tea. But a flurry of new research suggests that coffee offers nearly as many health perks while protecting against a number of diseases.

All this is not to suggest you should start gulping endless cups of java if you’re not already a coffee lover. After all, excessive coffee intake may have a downside for some people. But if you like your daily “cuppa joe,” you can take some pleasure in knowing your coffee habit has finally been vindicated.

Antioxidants and More

A few years back, headlines trumpeted the news that coffee was the number one source of antioxidants in the American diet. It earned that claim not because it’s richer in antioxidants than fruits or vegetables, but because we drink so much of the stuff.

One of the prime antioxidants in coffee is methylpyridinium, which may help protect against colon cancer. This may explain the findings from a recent study that found women who drank three or more cups of coffee a day had half the risk of colon cancer as that of nondrinkers.

The age-old question of ‘what to do with this left-over turkey’ lives on today, but with the revival of the slow cooker, we now have more options for stretching our food dollars by creating some delicious crock pot turkey recipes.

Today’s turkey crock pot recipes are creative and fun to cook, and should be taken advantage of throughout the year, not just during the holiday season. Gather your ingredients, plop em’ in your crock pot in the morning before you leave for work, and when you arrive home in the evening your meal is waiting, and your home smells fantastic! Using leftover frozen turkey makes meal prep even easier. Here are some Turkey Crock Pot Recipes that your family will love.

Crock Pot Turkey Stew

1 large bag of frozen mixed veggies

2 lbs boneless, skinless turkey, cut into bite size pieces

2 tbl flour

1 cup chicken broth

1-1/2 tbl tomato paste

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

How to Cook for a Special Occasion

There are often times we want to cook something special. It is these moments that we often refer to as special occasions. When it comes to cooking for special occasions, many of us find that we drop the ball in our anticipation and feel as though we have ruined the moment. While this is often far from the truth, it does serve to diminish the moment in many of our minds. For this reason, you need to work up a repertoire, if you will, of simple to make special occasion cooking recipes.

You will be shocked and amazed at all the sinfully rich and delicious meals and side dishes that are out there, that are amazingly quick and easy to prepare. This means that you will not run the all too common disaster scenarios that you hear about and will still manage to have a wonderful meal that is enjoyed by all.

Some people will write Chinese food off as fatty and full of MSG (Mono Sodium Glutamate). Saturated fats and excess salts are considered bad for the heart and so it follows that Chinese food is unhealthy, right?

Wrong Some Chinese dishes, corrupted to become popular to western palates, fit this bill. Authentic Chinese food is not fatty, and MSG, if used at all, is used sparingly. In fact Chinese food has a long history of being directed towards promoting health; a much longer one than any local ‘fad’ in the west.

Some history

Although united 2000 years ago, China never developed a state system for healthcare until recently. Citizens had to take their own measures when sick, and since these were often too expensive, that meant avoiding sickness in the first place if at all possible.

The first principles of food therapy were established nearly 4000 years ago, though it was only during the Tang Dynasty (608-906 AD) that this form of knowledge became really popular. Four ‘pillars’ were identified as crucial to staying healthy: lifestyle, diet, exercise and mind. Of these diet was considered the most important, probably as it was the one over which people had the most control.

If you are a chocolate lover like me, then you are going to love this hot drink, especially after a afternoon out in the snow, or on those chilly afternoons.

Skip all those pre-packaged mixes, and create your own gourmet hot chocolate mix. Store in a dry sealed container, and it is ready when you are. Mix together the following ingredients:

1 cup of fat free dry milk

3/4 cup of light brown sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa.

That’s it!..

Now are you ready for a cup?

Whisk together 2-3 tablespoons of the mix with 1 cup of cold milk.
Microwave on High for 1 minute. Now you have your own homemade gourmet hot chocolate.

IRISH CREAM:

Want to add some additional flavors?.. try adding 1/2 teaspoon of honey and a dash of Irish whiskey to milk, and top with whipped cream and grated chocolate.

MOCHA

Fill your cup with coffee instead of milk.

VANILLA ALMOND

Add a dash of vanilla extract and Amaretto to milk.

Fajita is generally beef, chicken, pork or shrimp grilled and served on a flour tortilla with condiments. The chicken is worked with onions and bell peppers. Fajita is served to the table sizzling loudly on a metal platter with tortilla and condiments on the side. Making your lips watery?

Texans would love to take credit for giving the world fajitas but the honor goes to south of the border, Vagueros, who learnt the art of cutting tough beef into skirt steak. Fajitas are basically Tex Mex dishes. Nowadays Fajita is almost anything cooked and wrapped in a flour tortilla. Only true fajitas are skirt steak.

The preparation of Fajitas starts with marinating the beef using limejuice to tenderize at least for 24 hours. Well, there are no set rules for marinating; you can use your creative sense for that, but don’t forget to use limejuice. To marinade beef or chicken, you can use the Ass Kickin Soakin’ and Grilling Sauce. This would bring a true Mexican flavor.

Fajitas are real fun to eat, and here are the ways to cook the best Fajitas, namely:

We all want to live longer and better but we don’t always want to give up the things we love that may be bad for us. You can have it all and still live a healthy lifestyle with a few changes to your diet and way of preparing foods.

Most of us get too much sodium or salt in our diets. The more salt you use, the more you have to add over the long run in order to get the same taste. Now, you don’t have to give up salt, but you can substitute other spices to give you flavor without the disadvantages of salt. A number of salt substitutes also exist that can take the place of salt. If you like to experiment with cooking, you will find a number of spices and herbs that most people don’t even know exist.

Consider changing the oils you may be cooking in. Vegetable oils are healthier than shortening for cooking. Olive oil is one of the best oils you can work with concerning a healthy diet. Adding vegetables to your diet can help you to ensure are getting the fiber you need. If you are looking to reduce your calorie intake, vegetables will make you fell fuller without the calories that another food may give you.

If you are looking for fine Italian wine and food, consider the Tuscany region of central Italy. You may find a bargain, and I hope that you’ll have fun on the fact-filled wine education tour.

Tuscany is located on the central western part of Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It gets its name from an Etruscan tribe that settled the area about three thousand years ago. It has belonged to the Romans, the Lombards, and the Franks. More than four hundred years ago under the Medicis, Tuscany became a major European center. It is undoubtedly one of Italy’s top tourist destinations as well as an ideal place for your villa when you hit it big, really big. According to one Seinfeld episode there are no villas to rent in Tuscany, but that was several years ago. On the other hand, time in Tuscany as elsewhere in Italy is measured in centuries. Tuscany’s total population is about 3.5 million.

Florence is the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and the administrative center of Tuscany. It is one of Italy’s top tourist destinations, whose sites of interest are too numerous to list here. Siena and Pisa are two other major tourist destinations.

How to Cook for One

It is hard to find recipes with ingredients to feed only one person. Despite this fact, we are seeing more and more recipe books and Internet websites that are dedicated to the act of cooking for one. Divorce and the death of spouses or grown children leaving for college are all reasons that someone accustomed to cooking for more than one would suddenly need to learn how to adjust all the cooking practices utilized before into a streamlined plan of cooking that is more efficient for one person creating less waste.

The mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make cooking for one a challenge rather than a trial. Use this opportunity to try new and exciting cuisines. Perhaps one of the greatest things about cooking for one is the fact that it isn?t quite as expensive as cooking for two. This means that you have a little more money in the grocery budget with which to plan and prepare your meals.

If you have decided to follow a diet plan to lose weight, you then need to decide how best to prepare your meals. Even though you may be having fresh fruit and vegetables, you won’t want to eat everything raw. There are several ways of cooking healthy food and you will be able to do so without having to make great changes from your usual cooking methods.

Baking is a good option for many foods in a diet plan. Wrap the food in foil to keep it moist and prevent drying out. The food will be tastier when you do that.

Boiling is fine for fish. Don’t use butter or oil for marinades and make sauces using water as a base. If you are boiling vegetables, do them in cook bags to prevent contact with the water, which would remove a certain amount of the nutrients from the veges. As an alternative use a steamer which holds the food above the boiling water.

Grilling is satisfactory. Again wrap food in foil to retain the juices.

Microwaving works well for a number of foods. There are many utensils suitable for use in a microwave oven. A microwave proof lidded container with a table spoonful of water in the bottom is great for cooking vegetables.