Recipes Cooking Food

Cooking is a popular pastime for millions of men and women. We all need to eat anyway, but cooking is so enjoyable for the foodies, that cooking might also be classified as a hobby. Avid cooks are also typically enthusiastic cook book collectors, ever in search of something new for their menus.

However, inevitably, the book shelves are bulging and the book budget is not quite so fat! You may go to an Indian restaurant and fall in love with this fragrant cuisine, wishing you could recreate some of these dishes at home. Maybe it’s Moroccan food or Russian dishes that catch your fancy. How about Szechuan? Each of these are complex and unfamiliar cuisines, employing ingredients and specific techniques you’ve never explored. You may be hesitant to run out and buy a book in order to recreate a single dish, hoping for the best. If this is your quandary, it’s time to take a look at the free recipes online!

Here’s a brand new hobby for you to take up with gusto and at no cost. There are thousands of recipe websites, all of which offer free recipes online. If you have the name of a specific dish, you can find a recipe, with detailed instructions on how to prepare it, online. A cook’s dream come true! Let’s say you tasted Dolmas at your local Greek restaurant and simply must know how to make it yourself. Dolmas is a lamb and rice dish, wrapped in grape leaves. Properly prepared and seasoned, it’s something to write home about … but do you have a Greek cook book? Perhaps not. Where do you buy grape leaves? What are the ingredients that give this dish its unmistakable, but elusive fragrance and unique taste?

Tracking down such a recipe used to require a trip to the library, a perusal of their Greek cook books and then determining where to buy the various unfamiliar ingredients. If your library is not large, you might have to locate a Greek cook book from a neighboring library and perhaps wait a couple of weeks to get it and then hope it contained a recipe for Dolmas! This is no longer necessary with all of the websites offering free recipes online. You can track down any number of variations of the desired recipe in a half hour and a few clicks!

What’s more, if your chosen recipe leaves a few blanks unfilled as to techniques and resources of exotic ingredients, you can find dozens of cooking magazines with articles that supply the missing information.

With the bonanza of free recipes online, you can find everything you need to know to confidently tackle the most obscure recipes, learn the techniques used in preparing any dish, from any cuisine around the globe. Once you gain familiarity with the Greek way of cooking, a whole new world of tastes opens up to you – and your appreciative friends and family! Not to mention the personal satisfaction and excitement at learning something new about your favorite avocation … all due to finding those free recipes online. Then, you’re ready to knowledgeably buy a treasured new Greek cook book! Bon Appetit!

The author has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site Blogging Syndicate by Desmond Ong that discusses Blogging Syndicate review.

I could have put this sloppy joes recipe up before this but for some reason I didn’t. I happen to like sloppy joes quite a bit and have them a couple of times per month and last week when I had them I remembered I hadn’t put this recipe up yet. This recipe for sloppy joes is so easy a 10 year old could do it.

Is this a good recipe. I think so, most of my family thinks so and most importantly my girlfriends granddaughter thinks so. She thinks they taste like the sloppy joes she eats at school. I( didn’t take that as a compliment because school food was really bad when I was young. However after she ate 4 of them I got the hint she liked them. Funny but she seems to think my sloppy joes taste a lot like Manwich. I don’t and I don’t like Manwich either. Mine are much better.

Your handy griddle can handle most frying tasks, except deep fried dishes, which aren’t all that good for you anyway and are a lot more trouble. When you’re getting the hang of your basic cooking skills, the less complicated, the better.

The slow cooker is a fabulous tool for producing dishes with very basic cooking skills. So simple is the preparation, all you need to do is toss the ingredients into the pot – in the correct order – and walk away until dinner time. The slow cooker is the champion of those with the most basic cooking skills. Coarsely chop a couple of onions and whatever veggies you want and plop your roast, chicken or stew meat on top. Pour a cup of broth over all and the seasonings of your choice on top of the meat. Set the cooker on medium. Do this in the morning and come home to a fragrant, delicious meal. Serve it up and freeze the remainder in portions for future meals.

An Article about Fish Recipes

Do you remember how when you were a kid, your mother told you to eat up your fish because it was brain food? Fish is one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and there are no end of wonderful things to say for it – it cooks very quickly, it’s easy to digest, and the nutrients it can give you are just miraculous. But there are lots of people who stay clear of bringing fish into the kitchen; no matter how hard they try, they feel fish either turns into a strip of cardboard or into a formless mess. But it doesn’t have to be this way though. With the right kind of handholding, almost anyone can learn to flip, poach, sauté, braise or grill a great fish. Let’s look at two great healthy fish recipes, and start from scratch.

Full Article at: Fish Recipes

How does the idea of exciting weight loss recipes that are jam-packed with tasty, low-fat meals grab you? For most people, trying to lose weight is an arduous task and doesn’t exactly conjure up exciting meal ideas with delicious and inspiring foods. One always imagines lots of boring salads or bleak, tasteless chicken breasts and the word “dessert� doesn’t even form part of the average diet-dictionary! Not necessarily.

There are some weight loss recipes out there that offer not only highly nutritious, low-fat options, but are also very tasty and easy to prepare.

The main factor to keep in mind is that meals need to be balanced. Protein-only diets or liquid diets can be harmful to your health as your body actually needs carbohydrates, fats and sugars in order to function normally.

Great weight loss recipes can aid significantly to any weight loss efforts as one will be more inclined to stick it out for longer if you’re actually enjoying your food.

There’s no reason for you to have uninteresting and tasteless food simply because you’re on a diet. You could have a rustic hot pot, with lamb, onion, garlic, cumin, paprika, celery, tomatoes, cauliflower and cabbage served in low-GI tortilla wraps. Follow this with a delicious dessert of strawberries in ginger and mint syrup with vanilla yoghurt. Simply delectable.

Most importantly, there’s no need to get discouraged. Should you find yourself struggling to achieve your weight loss goals, consider joining a reputable weight loss program that offers support and advice. Alternatively a good friend or family member can always be a great form of support when you feel like it’s just getting a bit too much. You could even invite them over for a meal and cook up a storm of delicious, healthy foods. You might be surprised at how many compliments you get for the meals prepared from weight loss recipes and they might be inspired to start losing weight too.

We’re all conscious of the limitations of our food budgets, but still want to serve nutritious food that is a pleasure for the family to eat. Time is also at a premium for many of us these days, so we look for quick recipes that also meet the above criteria. Sound impossible? Not at all. As proof, we offer five canned salmon recipe meals. Fresh and frozen salmon are good for a special occasion, but are also becoming a bit pricey.

Canned salmon comes in chunks, much like canned albacore, rather than as a fillet, but this doesn’t mean you should turn your nose up at this economical alternative. Look through these five canned salmon recipes and see if you might want to stock up on several cans to tuck away in the pantry for a quick, nutritious meal and a change of pace.

When preparing canned salmon recipes, first drain the juices – don’t just put them down the drain – pour the juice into a small freezer container and save for use later in a chowder or fish-based casserole. Your recipe will benefit from the added flavor. When drained, place the salmon in a wide, shallow container and carefully pick through for any bits of bone or cartilage. Now you’re good to go.

1.Salmon patties are a tasty alternative to the burger, a good choice for dieters and those who want to get some extra antioxidants in their diet. In a medium bowl, beat 2 eggs well. Add the salmon and mix throughly. Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and 2 teaspoons of freshly snipped tarragon. Mix well. With clean hands, shape the salmon into 4 patties. Dredge the patties in bread crumbs. Fry in a tablespoon of olive oil until crispy around the edges. Serve with lemon wedges, a dinner salad and a chunk of French bread.

2.This canned salmon recipe couldn’t be easier, as most of the ingredients are canned. Don’t let that put you off – it’s delicious! Prepare the salmon. Open two 15-1/2 ounce cans of cream of shrimp bisque soup, 1 15-1/2 ounce can of new potatoes (drained), and one 8-ounce can of corn (drained). Put all of the ingredients in a 2-3 quart pot and set the heat on low. Add 1 cup of milk and stir. While the soup is heating, dice one large red sweet bell pepper and one medium sweet onion. Add to the pot. Turn the heat to medium, stirring occasionally. Cut up about ½ cup of fresh Italian flat leaf parsley. When the soup’s hot, serve with warm French bread. Garnish each bowl with parsley and a small pinch of cayenne.

3.This canned salmon recipe offers a welcome and refreshing twist on the traditional chef’s salad. After cleaning the salmon, put it in a bowl, sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Meanwhile, clean your greens – a Mesclun mix is great with salmon – and arrange tomato wedges, a hard-boiled, sliced egg and 2-3 slices of avocado around the edge of each plate. Divide the salmon among the plates, mounding it in the center. Serve with a side of Thousand Island dressing and the bread of your choosing.

4.Make a salmon salad sandwich for a quick and healthy lunch. Mix mayonnaise in with the salmon, to your taste. Add 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Finely slice 2 green onions, including the tops, and add to the mix. Snip ¼ cup of fresh parsley and mix well. In pocket bread, layer lettuce, the salmon mix and top off with alfalfa sprouts. Lunch is ready!

5.Here’s a canned salmon recipe that makes a hearty, satisfying and nutritious casserole. Butter the bottom of a 3 quart casserole. Cook and drain 8 ounces of wide egg noodles. Remove the noodles to a large bowl. Coarsely dice one medium red onion. Finely slice 3 green onions, including the tops. Thickly slice 4 large mushrooms. Add the salmon, veggies and ½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper to the noodles. Add 2 cans of cream of shrimp bisque soup and ¾ cup of whole milk and mix well. Spoon into the buttered casserole dish. Crush a snack size bag of plain potato chips and sprinkle over the top of the casserole. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve with salad and corn muffins.

You can see how canned salmon recipes add variety to your usual repertoire of menus. If you serve just one of these each week, you’ll be saving time and money, while giving a serious boost to the nutritive value your family enjoys. Even kids like these recipes!

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My husband is an avid hunter. He likes the challenge of studying about a species and their habitat and then planning a hunting trip with his brother or friends. He is always very careful in how he processes the meat so that it does not spoil or have a strong game taste to it. The best part for me is that he also enjoys preparing the meat. He likes to cook, but he is learning how to do this. Cooking is a process and he does not have the full process down yet. He has yet to learn the art of timing. As a result the meat, which he is most concerned about, is usually perfect however the side dishes are either under done or overcooked. I love to cook and have taken many courses and have experimented in the kitchen for years. I have developed several recipes. My most famous accomplishment is a barbecue sauce recipe.

Several years ago my husband and I were hosting a patio party for the partners of the law firm that he was joining. We decided that we would serve ribs and chicken along with a variety of salads and desserts. We were new to the area so I did not know of any good caterers so I decided that I would do all the cooking myself. I pre-baked the ribs so they would be tender and I marinated the chicken. I made a large batch of a barbecue sauce recipe that my family enjoys. We like barbecue but we could never find a sauce that had the right amount of spice and sweetness. I started experimenting by adding ingredients to prepared sauces and then began making the sauces myself. After several attempts I finally came up with a concoction that we all liked. The barbecue sauce recipe is made by guess and through tasting rather than by measuring.

At the party the senior partner of the law firm fell in love with the barbecue sauce recipe. His specialty is patent law. He insisted that I should patent the recipe and then market it to a restaurant change that the firm represents. The restaurant specializes in barbecued foods. At first I thought that he was just being flattering, until my husband brought home the paperwork for me to fill out to obtain the patent. We made a great deal of money selling the barbecue sauce recipe to the restaurant chain. They now bottle the sauce and sell it at their restaurant. I no longer make the recipe I buy the sauce by the bottle. I never thought that I would be part of such a business transaction involving one of my kitchen concoctions.

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I’m not exactly the healthiest eater around. I love my junk food, am practically addicted to carbs, and feel the same way about vegetables as most 8-year-old kids. But now that I’m getting older, I have to start being more careful about the stuff I put into my body, and I have to try to undo some of the negative effects of my bad habits of the past. For instance, I know my cholesterol is sky-high, so I’ve been cutting down on red meat, have been exercising more, and am eating stuff like oatmeal and fish. This hasn’t been a fun change, but I’m getting used to it by now — mostly thanks to all the tasty baked fish recipes I’ve been able to find online.

I had never prepared any kind of seafood on my own, so the thought of baking some salmon or halibut at home was a bit daunting. I was worried about whether or not I’d be able to prepare the food properly, and also about how it would taste. After all, if I couldn’t choke it down, then I wouldn’t be able to derive any of the health benefits, right?

But I needn’t have worried. Within minutes of sitting down at my computer, I was able to navigate to a vast database of free baked fish recipes. There were so many delicious meal ideas that I would never again have to dread the question, “What’s for dinner tonight?” And since I was committed to eating this type of food at least twice a week, I needed all cooking tips and serving suggestions that I could get.

The hundreds of different baked fish recipes in the database were searchable by a number of different criteria, which made it even easier for me to find the ones I was most interested in. For example, I could search by ingredients, cooking method (though most of these were baked fish recipes, there were numerous options for grilling or frying as well), or type of fish. When I found a recipe I liked, I simply printed it off, cut it down to 3×5 size, and glued it onto an index card, using both sides if I had to.

I am not a good or creative cook by any stretch of the imagination, so these fast and easy baked fish recipes have been a lifesaver. I was able to start cooking immediately, and soon identified a handful of meal ideas that I absolutely loved. Not all of these baked fish recipes turned out great, but lots of them did, which means I’m now eating healthier than ever before.

If you’re looking to break away from your old eating habits by introducing healthier fare to your regular menu, I suggest checking out some free baked fish recipes online. I have a feeling you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how utterly delectable some of the meals are!

The author has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site Stealth Traffic Formula bonus that discusses Stealth Traffic Formula by Shaun Smith.

Halloween is the holiday to let out all the stops. Typically, we want to serve our family and friends with appetizing and visually appealing dishes. Halloween is the exception. Halloween snack recipes form the perfect opening to combine a tasty snack with a reminder of the darker side of this holiday. Halloween is our chance to survey a menu that scares us silly, but which we will still enjoy.

If you’re hosting a Halloween party and are looking for Halloween snack recipes for your buffet, take a look at these seven show stoppers.

1.Think yellow, orange, red and black. These are the traditional Halloween colors. One simple, but effective Halloween snack recipe requires only a brief stop at the deli counter. Any orange cheese will do. A smoked Cheddar cheese square, with a black olive, secured by a toothpick, makes a delightful and simple Halloween snack recipe. Set your snacks out on a tray and watch them disappear.

How about some bleeding celery sticks? This Halloween snack recipe invites disgust, but in a delicious venue. Slice your celery in 4-inch chunks. Use a toothpick, dipped in red food coloring, to imbue the celery veins with less-than-enchanting ‘blood lines’. Eeeew!

2.Halloween snack recipes should not exclude the sweets! Lemon bars with pumpkin faces may seem like a usual, but you shouldn’t underestimate the impact. This sweet packs a big punch, combining the visual with the food facts. Use color!

3.Now, for a truly ghoulish touch, how about some sweet roll dough brains? All you need is a pop-top can of rolls. Use a spritzer bottle, filled with water and just a single drop of red, blue and green food coloring. Spray the dough. Cut and shape them into rounds. Use a toothpick to get the brainy effect. Bake and serve!

4.A simple, but effective Halloween snack recipe consists of petit fours of pumpernickel bread, pearl onions and smoked salmon. The colors send the Halloween message in style and taste!

5.How about some orange-flavored Halloween muffins, decorated with yellow cake decorating gel and grated carrots, topped with a dash of whipping cream? Your party rocks!

6.Now, how about that old standby, garlic bread? Doused with sliced black olives, fire roasted red peppers, slathered with butter, tinted a brilliant yellow, with adequate amounts of cheese, is quite the standout in Halloween snack recipes.

7.Now, for the capper: Fried calamari and lime green fresh mozzarella eyes invite your guests to walk the talk. Fry your calamari and drop a tad of tinted fresh mozzarella, green or red, for a memorable Halloween snack recipe.

Good Halloween snack recipes need a bit of the unknown, the fair dissemination of spookiness and a bit of apprehension. Make your snacks with panache … your guests will be delighted!

Interested in knowing how to choose cake pans? Check out muffin pans to find out more simple and useful pots and pans tips.

If you can never find a convenient enough way to get fruits and vegetables into your diet, you need to workthrough these food groups through the lens of the smoothie. Let’s look at a few great smoothie recipes for great health and devastating taste.

Let’s start with a real zesty fruit smoothie that gives you a great boost in the Vitamin C department, it gives you potassium and it brings you a good fistful of omega-3 for better immunity. I don’t have a name for it yet, but a functional strawberry-kiwi smoothie should be good enough.

So here is how you go about it – start off with a really ripe kiwi, all peeled and cut up. Throw it into the blender; pick up 2 ounces of strawberries all nicely hulled. You’ll need about a third of a cup filled with orange juice, and to round the taste out, throw in half a banana. My personal touch is that I like to use vanilla yogurt too and a couple of teaspoons of flaxseed. There isn’t much by way of preparation to smoothie recipes, and this is no exception. Your culinary expertise here consists of hitting the blender button long enough to really blend things properly. Oh, and don’t forget the ice cubes. The resulting foaming frothing dementingly delicious drink has only about 200 calories, and you get plenty of fiber.

If you haven’t guessed it yet, I really like bananas; there is such a high-class subtle flavor they bring to anything. For the next smoothie, let’s try something that has a nutty flavor building on top of the banana. Let’s call this the almond and banana smoothie. For the athletic readers among you, this is a great way to prop your strength up for a long bout on the tracks. Let’s start off with the banana; slice it up (having peeled it first, of course), and throw it in the blender. If you can get almond milk, that would be great; if not, get three-quarters of a cup of low-fat milk. You’ll need a teaspoon of honey, some vanilla for flavor, and a little almond butter. As always, preparation is simple enough. Hit the motor long enough to get it all nice and frothy. With anything with banana, it won’t really keep; so you need to get to the serving part right away. This is one of those smoothie recipes that have a little extra in the calories and fat department. This one weighs in at 400 calories, and about 20g fat. And that’s because you used low-fat milk.

And for a couple of quick extras, try these smoothie recipes – how about one with dates,carrots and milk; orhow about making them really filling? Smoothie recipes with oatmeal are all the rage now.

The author has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site Traffic Mayhem by Mo Latif that discusses Traffic Mayhem review.

When the family asks, “What’s for dinner?â€?, New England style seafood chowder provides a tempting answer! Sure, you can buy a commercial product, but when you’re serving a family, this dish can become a bit pricey. The good news here is that this hearty entree is easy to prepare, filling, nutritious and can be economically prepared in quantities to serve a crowd. Any leftovers make a terrific lunch bag entree everyone will love to see. Here, we’ve got a recipe for seafood chowder that would please a New Englander! Keep in mind that the ingredients for this seafood chowder aren’t ‘cast in stone’. You’ve got lots of latitude when it comes to substituting – or adding to – this recipe. If one type of seafood or a particular veggie doesn’t appeal to you, feel free to substitute one more to your liking.

New England style Seafood Chowder
———————————
4 medium potatoes, peeled, coarsely chopped and boiled
4 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons white or soft wheat flour
8 cups (2 quarts) milk
2 cups whole kernel corn
1 large sweet onion, diced
6 large white or brown mushrooms, sliced
2 sweet bell peppers (red, orange or yellow), coarsely diced
1 can sliced water chestnuts
½ pound uncooked medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
½ pound uncooked bay scallops, fresh or frozen
½ pound uncooked catfish ‘nuggets’
½ pound crayfish (available frozen in most supermarkets)
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 teaspoons of dried dill weed
salt and pepper to taste

To prepare:

1.Peel the potatoes, dice coarsely and boil in salted water. Reserve the water in which the potatoes are cooked.
2.In a 8-quart stock pot, melt the butter over low heat. Add the flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, using a whisk to incorporate the flour into the butter. Cook the butter and flour mixture for at least 10 minutes, whisking frequently (to avoid burning your precious roux).
3.Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly. When all the milk has been added, continue cooking for about ten minutes – the broth will thicken upon cooking. If it becomes too thick for your preference, add some of the reserved potato water, a bit at a time, until the broth suits your taste in thickness.
4.Add the cooked potato chunks, corn, onion, mushrooms, peppers and water chestnuts. Cook over low-medium heat for 20 minutes.
5.Add the fish and seafood, parsley and dill weed. Continue cooking until the shrimp are done (about 15 minutes). You can use a slotted spoon to fish out the shrimp – it’s done when it’s bright pink. The rest of the fish and seafood will also be done at this point.
6.Taste the broth, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Now that’s easy! Your New England style seafood chowder is ready to serve. A dinner salad and garlic bread makes this a filling meal that leads to kudos for you, the cook. Enjoy!

The author has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site Profitzon that discusses Profitzon review by Dan Brock.

You probably already have some of the items you will need. For example, look for black peppercorns, bay leaves, chilli powder (if you’re already a fan of chilli con carne), ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon if you bake cakes or apple pies. Maybe you’ll find mustard seeds if you do your own pickling and sesame seeds if you make rolls or cook Chinese food. That only leaves a few basic ingredients which appear in a lot of Indian recipes – cumin, coriander, turmeric and cardamom. Often you need ground cumin and coriander but if you buy the whole spices, you can grind them as necessary (and they keep longer that way too).

The other thing I did was to choose a fairly simple recipe to start with and I just bought the spices I needed for that. The next time I want to cook an Indian meal, I chose another recipe with similar ingredients so I had to just buy a couple more things. Soon enough I built up a whole store cupboard of the things I needed and it didn’t have had such a drastic effect on my wallet.

Then there was no stopping me – I even know some recipes by heart now and you can do the same if you want to. If you gain some weight then just use the 31 day fat loss cure.

You don’t need special equipment for Indian cookery, although I wouldn’t be without my electric coffee grinder (to grind spices) and it’s nice (but not necessary) to have the traditional dishes to serve your meal in. Other than that, you need a bit of patience and it’s fun to cook with a friend so that you can share the chopping and grinding or have someone read the recipe out to you step by step so you don’t go wrong in the middle.

The flavors are great, a curry evening is really sociable, so go on, give it a try.

No Halloween party would be complete without some delicious food that is also on topic. You’ve decorated the house with cobwebs and spiders, mom has her Heidi costume and dad has decided he needs a polar bear costume!) but what is everybody going to eat?

Well, Meatloaf Mice are great, delicious and wonderful for Halloween. Here’s how to make them:

1. Grab some ground beef, catsup, uncooked spaghetti (and some spaghetti sauce), onions, carrots, turkey, raisins, oatmeal, salt, pepper.
2. Cut the carrot horizontally (these will be mouse ears!) and vertically (the mouse tail, of course!) and steam them until tender.
3. The meatloaf goes on a baking sheet and then mix the rest of the ingredients. Shape into a mice-shape and place in the oven for about forty five minutes.
4. Remove from oven and cut small slits to poke in the ears and tail (carrot, remember?).
5. The spaghetti noodles will form the nose/whiskers.
6. Finally, pour over the spaghetti sauce

Tastes good and looks good as well!

Why do people put carrots in cake? The history of putting carrots in cake actually dates back to the medieval period. During that time, sweeteners for baking were scarce and very expensive. Carrots contain a lot of sugar, which was the perfect substitute for sweeteners in peoples’ baking adventures. Plus, they were a lot easier to come by and a lot more affordable. Using carrots in cakes was such a success; it has obviously continued down through the years and is still a favorite among many in today’s era. There are lots of varying recipes online and in cookbooks.

Everyone will claim that their recipe for carrot cake is the best. Perhaps their recipe is the best, however, each person has their own preferences and taste buds. You may find that one recipe is a bit more time consuming or complicated and you want to stick to the easiest recipe possible. You may not care about how much time is involved; you simply want to make the very best that you can possibly can. No matter what your preferences or plans happen to be, there are lots of excellent recipe sites to be found.

” Oomph is the intricate inner feeling of that touch of power, unexplained yet real, that comes with the drinking of coffee or espresso“

I had been a long term tea drinker, preferring tea to any other beverage for years, until one day, I had a new assistant. I was working as a dealer representative for stocks and shares at that time, and that means in a really stressful environment, being in the trading room all the time. So taking some time off to catch a cuppa and to be back to trading and watching the trading screens for the best prices was the perfect break anyone could hope for.

My new assistant was a young lady in her mid twenties, and it was interesting to see her prepare her drink.

No, she wasn’t a tea drinker like me. Instead, she was a coffee fan, perhaps even an addict to coffee, you may say. On her first day at work, she took out of her handbag three packs of instant coffee 3 in 1 – namely instant coffee, sugar and non-dairy creamer, and then proceeded to empty the three packs into one cup,adding hot water, making a strong coffee. She wasn’t through yet, because she also opened another pack of chocolate powder and sprinkled the chocolate powder on to her hot coffee, creating a tremendous aromatic smell that pervaded the trading room.

That was some “oomph” in her coffee.

After a period of three months, I found I was suddenly drinking coffee myself and wasn’t a pure tea drinker anymore. It was a subtle conversion process, and soon I found I really need that coffee in the afternoon trading session.

Now, looking back, I have learnt a lot of techniques to add more “oomph” to my cup of coffee.

One way is to enhance the taste with some special add-on ingredients.

My most popular add-on ingredient is powdered ginseng. Ginseng is the traditional chinese herb which is a root, and american ginseng is preferred to korean or chinese ginseng. This herb makes one alert when taken, and is normally taken to strengthen one’s immune system or body. You can get the ginseng powder from the Natural Herb Store or in the form of capsules that you can empty into a cuppa when you need the “oomph”.

Be reminded that the ginseng root powder carries a somewhat bitter taste. So don’t equate quantity with more “oomph”. You just add sufficient to give you the enhanced aroma and the “oomph” you need.

Another way is to add the “tongkat ali” root powder, which may be slightly harder to obtain. This root is from an original plant in Malaysia and is a well researched herbal root with aphrodiasic features. The aborigines of the tropical jungles of Malaysia use this to enhance their “maniless” and this they prove by having big families. Commercially, you can get a bottle of this Tongkat Ali powder under the brand name “Power Root” throughout the world. Just add a small pinch and you will find the difference in your taste and feel the subsequent well-being.

Now you can have that extra edge and “oomph” when you next take your coffee, irregardless whether it is an espresso or a latte.

Why not pump up your next cup of coffee with a Dowe Egberts Switch Espresso coffee pod. If you enjoy coffee and espresso and you want to enjoy a quality drink at home these espresso coffee pods are ideal. The time it takes you to measure out the espresso, press them into your machine, make your drink and then clean up can be quite time consuming which is why the coffee pods are ideal. Espresso coffee pods are a quick way for you to brew quality espresso/coffee drinks without a lot of work or clean up.

What Is An Espresso Coffee Pod And Where Can You Find Them?

Espresso coffee pods are like pre-packaged coffee filters. The espresso or coffee is sandwiched between the filter paper, forming a pod about two inches in diameter. You use them in the same way that you would brew coffee in a traditional home coffee pot, only without the hassle of having to measure out grounds. However if you buy a Dowe Egberts Switch pod you do not even need a coffee machine. These pods are designed to be used on the go. They are designed to be ‘pumped’ with your thumbs to provide a frothy, creamy coffee. They are available in lots of different flavours and can be served hot or cold. With the other espresso coffee pods they need to be placed into a espresso coffee pod machine.You just pop the espresso or coffee pod into a compatible machine, and your work is done. Clean up is just as easy, since the only thing you have to do is throw away the espresso/coffee pod and rinse out your machine.

Equipment needed and where can they be found?

If you want to make an espresso coffee using an espresso coffee pod and not a dowe egberts coffee switch pod you will need to purchase a espresso coffee pod machine. Espresso coffee pods are designed to work with most machines so thereÂ’s no need to have to purchase anything new if you already own one. Basically espresso coffee pods are just making the process a lot faster and easier for you. Espresso coffee pods are available in most forms including Starbucks and Nestle. Espresso coffee pods save you time, without skimping on quality. You can still brew quality espresso or coffee, and you can enjoy that fact that is has already been packaged for you to brew right away. With the introduction of the new Dowe Egberts Switch coffee pods you also have the luxury of choosing speciality cold coffee as well as flavored espresso coffee pods. Bothe standard espresso coffee pods and dowe Egbert switch coffee pods can be purchased at your local convenience store and local garages.

During the warm days of summer, rare is the cook who wants to spend much time in front of a hot stove. Here’s one recipe that’s easy and quick, providing you with a tempting one-dish meal that is satisfying and nutritious and gives you an opportunity to serve lots of those fruits and veggies we all need more of in our diets. This shrimp salad recipe can also be prepared ahead of time, thus giving you the best of all characteristics in the culinary world. Let’s see if you don’t agree!

This recipe serves four, but is easily scaled up or down as suits your need.

Heavenly shrimp salad recipe
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1 head of Hearts of Romaine lettuce
1 pound of salad shrimp, cooked
4 hard-boiled eggs
2 avocados
4 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into wedges
4 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro (leaves only)
alfalfa sprouts to taste
garlic flavored croutons to taste
1 medium fresh lemon, quartered

1.Chill dinner plates, if desired
2.Divide cleaned lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces on individual serving plates.
3.Mound ¼ pound of shrimp in the center of the salad.
4.Peel the eggs and slice, arranging the slices around the edge of each plate.
5.Quarter the avocados, remove the skin and portion out half an avocado per serving, forming a border around the shrimp mound.
6.Core the tomatoes, cut into wedges and place between the egg slices, using one tomato per serving.
7.Sprinkle cilantro, alfalfa sprouts and croutons over each salad.
8.Dress with Thousand Island dressing and garnish with a wedge of fresh lemon.

If you wish to prepare this shrimp salad recipe ahead of serving time, place each of the ingredients in separate plastic bags until you’re ready to assemble the salad, slicing the eggs and avocados at the last minute, to prevent discoloration. You can also add a teaspoon of lemon juice to your Thousand Island dressing mix for a little extra zip, if you like. When using frozen salad shrimp, thaw overnight in the frig.

Our shrimp salad recipe is versatile. Don’t hesitate to add or substitute other favorite fruits or veggies your family enjoys. You can even substitute crab or Krab(R) for the shrimp, keeping the rest of the ingredients as listed above.

Any way you cut it, this shrimp salad recipe makes an elegant, filling meal and is easy on the cook. Serve with a basket of garlic-buttered French bread and you’ve got a winning meal everyone will love!

The author has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site Covert Cash Conspiracy bonus that discusses Covert Cash Conspiracy by Matt Benwell.

Spotted Zebra started over 10 years ago as a small home based catering company called Alpha & Omega Caterers. Started by Greg Bold, who at the time was a manager at Café Veneto, it grew from a little sandwich delivery business into a small home catering company.

Encouraged by the success of his business providing fresh meals prepared in daily, Greg ventured out into more elaborate catering, ensuring the same fresh ingredients and service. Within two years, Alpha & Omega could no longer cater from home as proper licenses and fat traps and health and safety regulations needed to be implemented. Purchasing extra equipment to handle the demand from a colleague led to a change in name to SPOTTED ZEBRA and a re-location to kitchens at Kirsten’s Mall in Westville.

Spotted Zebra’s are NOTICED, they stand out in the crowd and if anything, that is who we are!
We are not the largest catering company, or the fanciest, but we sure try to stand out and be noticed, offering the best service and the friendliest staff and by far the most enjoyable meals of all!

From Westville, our grew from 5 staff members into the ten man crew it is today. Spotted Zebra handles catering for both the corporate and private sectors in Durban and KZN. Our catering ranges from simple hot and cold snack platters to chiq butler style canapés. From the traditional spit braai for 40 friends and family to braai banquets for thousands. From breakfasts to Dinners and everything in between, Spotted Zebra simply loves good Durban food and that really is what we are about!

Easy ground beef recipes are my favorite accomplishment. Lol, for me they are simple as I like ground beef more than most everything else. If I had to choose one food it would be ground beef as it’s tasty and it’s so easy to blend it in with different things.

While I’m not a formally trained chef I have been cooking my own food for over 55 years. My grandmother started teaching me to cook at age 4 and the first thing she taught me was to fry a hamburger on the stove. I stood on a chair to flip the burgers and I learned to stay away from spattering grease. Cheeseburgers are my favorite meal.

If you’re looking for some quick hamburger recipes for the grill here’s a very simple yet tasty recipe you can use as your ace in the hole when you have company but need something easy to make.

As luck would have it this burger recipe for the grill is so simple you can have your guests help and have some fun at the same time. It’s pretty much a no fuss, no muss grill recipe and it’s so simple anyone can make it to perfection.

Soups are to warm your hands when you sit before the heater when it is cold outside and raining, aren’t they? But there is a good reason to make them in the summer too – you get lots of fresh green vegetables in the summer, fresh off the farms. And no matter what kind of vegetable you think of, there are soup recipes to bring out the best in them. It doesn’t even matter if you got overenthusiastic over at the farmers market, and bought too much of something – soups are a great way to get the best out of them even if they are a little wilted. If it is summer and you’re in the mood for a taste of freshness, here is one of my best soup recipes that should be right up your street.

For our spring soup recipes, let’s start out with an asparagus soup. There is a kind of a gourmet quality to this one though. It uses to green garlic. You’ll need to be extra alert over the next visit to the farmers market now for this. You get a great creamy frothy soup that is so colorful, it will gladden your heart. So what you need are these: a pound of asparagus, 6 cups of vegetable stock, a nicely chopped-up bulb of spring garlic, a third of a cup of Parmesan cheese grated up, a couple of tablespoons of flat-leaf parsley, half a cup of cooked pasta, and of course you’ll like croutons.

Get your vegetable stock in the pot, and begin to bring to a boil. Throw in the chopped-up garlic and the asparagus stalks, to have the flavor really come out. Now that you have this broth on your hands, season it with salt and pepper to taste. Slice up the asparagus into little pieces, and bring a boil again. Simmer for maybe five minutes; the idea is to turn the asparagus bright green and tender, but not all squishy. You’re almost ready now.

You will need to put the cheese, the chopped parsley and the eggs all in a bowl and beat them together. You need to make sure that your soup is only simmering and not actually boiling. Spoon out some into this mixture, and keep whisking. Empty it all into the boiling soup, and keep whisking. It should cook for about three minutes; bring in the pasta, and you’re good to go. It should serve about four people, and when you serve with croutons, it should really add some class. Trying soup recipes with fresh produce is a great way to introduce your children to vegetables in the diet; it’s a great way, because admit it, soups are classy.

The author has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site Never Fail List Building by Bill McRea & Mike Williams that discusses Never Fail List Building.

Nothing is more relaxing, delicious and enticing than a cup of blueberries during this hot summer. Blueberries are one of those food that is overlooked by many people. They are extremely rich in vitamins and antioxidants. Also, there are many ways to consume blueberries. You can eat them raw or you can process them into pastries, ice cream or anything you like using some blueberry recipes to satisfy your taste buds.