Slow Cooker Recipes

Slow Cooker Recipes For Healthy Living

One-dish dinners are cooked best in a crock pot and easy slow cooker recipes have now made it possible for you to ensure that your family can enjoy nutritious and healthy meals. This handy kitchen appliance can be your best friend if you know how to use it well because it is simple to operate, cost-effective and comes in a variety of styles and sizes. Easy slow cooker recipes are what you need when you have had a long tiring day and you need to cook a nutritious dinner in the shortest possible time. You could either opt for a vegetarian slow cooker recipe or even try your hand at international cuisines if your family is open to experimenting.

Make Easy Slow Cook Recipes:

• Alter the recipes to appeal to the palates of your family members like seasonings or spices or vegetables.
• Follow instructions carefully when doing layering because some vegetables like carrots take longer to cook. Usually the ones that take the longest to cook are placed at the bottom of the crock-pot and those that cook easily are placed on top.
• Unless instructions are diligently followed, you may end up with a meal where the vegetables end up raw!

Advantages Of Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes
1. They are very easy to handle and give you the flexibility to prepare different kinds of delicious meals for your family.
2. All you need to do is to combine ingredients and let it cook in the crock-pot over a gentle flame.
3. Saves you time during which you can complete other household chores.
4. Healthy slow cooker recipes can be prepared easily because most recipes typically demand healthy and nutritious ingredients which can be cooked over a long period of time so as to retain all the essential healthy vitamins and minerals as well as preserving its deliciousness.
5. Healthy slow cooker recipes are also cheaper and simpler to make, especially for those who have neither the time nor the patience to cook an elaborate dinner.
6. This type of cooking is hassle-free and safe because they involve lower temperatures and gentle heat. With a timer, it can be left unattended as well.
7. The lengthy cooking time lets the flavour get distributed better and the lesser temperature prevents the food from getting burnt or getting stuck to the bottom of the container unlike in an oven.
8. Most convenient for large gathering meals or holiday treats like a Thanksgiving dinner.

For a vegetarian slow cooker recipes, wherein the majority of ingredients are derived from non-animal sources, it can prove to be very valuable and convenient. While cooking beans or making pea-based soups and stews, these cookers are the best. Root vegetables or heavy vegetables like squash are best cooked in a crock-pot as are soups made from grains. All in all, when you want a nutritious and light meal for your family that can cook on its own and demands little effort on your part.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5111777

 

Easy Dinner Recipes

Need Easy Dinner Recipes For The Family?

It seems we are always running. In our family there is, more often than not, too much to do and not enough time to do it. When the parents get home from work, the last thing anyone really wants to do is to spend hours in the kitchen. When we have easy dinner recipes for the family to supplement out cooking ideas, we can realize a savings of time and money.

I don't know about other families, but in our family, saving time and more is important. The kitchen is one area where having some quick and easy recipes for dinner impacts both the budget and the clock.
There are two ways to look at easy dinner recipes. You can go store bought, or you can go with simple ingredients. Things like "Skillet Sensations" ® certainly may taste good, and they qualify as fast, but in the long run, they aren't going to be the most economical. When it comes right down to it, they aren't necessarily any faster than cooking with your own ingredients.

When you do it yourself, not only can you have easy dinner recipes for the family, but you can also have easy dinner recipes with the family. In other words, you can do some cooking with kids when you use easy recipes for dinner. We can call our house and with a few simple instructions, my teenage kids can put a scrumptious dinner on the table. That provides an additional benefit, because in cooking with kids, you are cooking for kids. They will cook what they like to eat.
With this in mind, we put together our cooking ideas in advance. We buy what we need for quick and easy recipes that we know the kids will enjoy.

Our other option is that we will put dinner together at breakfast time before we walk out the door. We either do some crock pot cooking, or we put dinner together and put it in the oven and set the oven to start cooking at a certain time. Either way, supper is ready when we walk in the door.

The main thing required for this kind of easy cooking is planning. Know your recipes. Know your schedule. Plan your meals. Healthy easy recipes for cooking with kids is definitely a doable goal. The one thing we dislike in regard to supper is having to walk through the door at five pm and then wonder what to cook for dinner. The more you plan in advance, the more time and money you save on a day to day basis.
Why do we need easy dinner recipes for the family? To save time. To save money. To have time with our children and our family.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6042939

 

Pork Chop Recipes

An Easy Pork Chop Recipes

This easy pork chop recipe is a southern favorite. The easy pork chops are covered in thinly sliced onions and gravy, and simmered to a flavorful finish.
Choose a thicker sliced pork chop that is an even thickness throughout. Chops that are an even thickness will cook evenly with less drying.
Start the chop at a high heat to brown quickly, then finish at lower heat on the stove in the gravy. This produces a more tender and juicy chop.
Watch your heat and do not overcook. Overcooking will cause the chops to dry out. Serve this with a nice bread or biscuit to soak up the extra gravy or over rice.

Easy Smothered Pork Chops
1 Tablespoon Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons flour
2 cups broth, beef, chicken or a combination of the two
4 bone in pork chops, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
2 medium yellow onions, sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, minced (2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaved, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
2 tablespoons water
salt and black pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Season the pork chops with pepper.
2. Brown the pork chops in the oil, turn and brown the second size. When brown, transfer to a platter and set aside.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter and onions and a little salt. Cook for about 5 minutes until the onions are softened and browned.
4. Add the flour and cook, stirring until the flour is lightly browned.
5. Stir in the minced garlic and thyme and cook for a few seconds until fragrant.
6. Increase the heat to medium high. Add the broth slowly, whisking until well mixed. Add the bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Scrape the bottom of the skillet to loosen any brown bits on the bottom of the pan.
7. Return the chops to the skillet and cover them with the onion gravy.
8. Reduce the heat again to low and simmer until the pork is tender and done, about 30 minutes.
9. Remove the chops to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Increase the heat to medium high and cook the gravy rapidly until the sauce is reduced to a gravy thickness. Remove the bay leaves. Add the parsley. Adjust seasonings if needed with salt and pepper.
10. Pour the gravy over the chops and serve.

 These recipes are guaranteed to have them begging for more. Best of all, its free!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/523201

 

Dinner Ideas

Keeping the Spirit of Hosting Alive

You have decided to host a dinner party to your near and dear ones. Remember! It is a great opportunity to shower your love and affection upon the people, who are integral parts of your life. Thus, you have to keep in mind superb dinner ideas and come out as a perfect host for this dinner party. And believe me! Your guests will remember your spirit of hosting dinner parties for long time.

What Is To Be Served
The first of many dinner ideas is that you must prepare your menu in advance, keeping in mind the quantity and quality of food items. If you are inviting few people for dinner, you may try to acquire information about their likes and dislikes. However, if you aim at hosting a grand dinner, you must decide the menu that can suit the tastes of every guest.

The majority of people in today's society are health conscious, thus you need to prepare the menu that contains less fat contents and also, low carb food items. Moreover, there may be some people, who are on diet. Thus, you need to keep this aspect in your mind. The low carb recipes like fish, eggs, meat and pasta are some magnificent options to find place in your menu. You must start with serving soup and don't forget to include salad with a touch of olive oil. Pork chops and mixed vegetables are another great dinner ideas.

After dinner, you must serve desserts like chocolate muffins, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and cakes to name a few. It is also a part of dinner ideas to serve champagnes, but remember that it must suit the reason behind this dinner party. If there are children and teen-agers in your guest list, you must keep special dishes reserved for these age groups.

Preparing Dinning Table
The great dinner ideas include the art of arranging the dinning table as well. You must have proper arrangement to provide space to all the guests on dinning table. The tablecloth and cloth napkins must be washed properly to remove all kinds of strains from them. You must place some beautiful vases on the table and also, make some flower arrangements. The other arrangements must be made according to the mood of occasion.

You may use aromatic room freshener to build up a great atmosphere. The utensils and serving bowls and spoons must be neat and clean. It is also the part of great dinner ideas to prepare food menus, if you are throwing a grand dinner party. There are beautiful candles and other table decors that you may opt for to enhance the look of dinning table.

The dinner ideas mentioned above are bound to bring applause for your spirit of hosting. You will find that people will praise your dinner parties and will love to mark their presence in them. Besides relishing food, you have to maintain a perfect level of every other arrangement associated with dinner party.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1471435

Food Near Me

Where You Should Store Your Food

Before starting your food storage program, you should figure out where you're going to keep all that food. The conditions need to be right, there needs to be plenty of room, and it needs to be in a convenient place. Look around your home and find a place that you can dedicate to food storage. Be creative. You might need to move things around.
The Right Conditions

1. Humidity. This will make your food spoil far more quickly. Avoid storing food near the dryer, the water heater, the kitchen, the bathroom, or anywhere there is water.
2. Sunlight. You'll need to keep your food somewhere dark. Not just a dimly lit room, but a closet or a place with no windows. It's imperative that you keep your food away from direct sunlight. Never keep your food in clear plastic or glass containers.
3. Temperature. Ideally, you want to keep your food between 40 and 60 degrees F. Keeping your thermostat at 60 degrees or less could be a strain on your electric bill (and your skin) in the summer, but keep it as cool as you can afford or tolerate. You'll also want the temperature to stay constant. Hot and cold variations can ruin the nutritional value of your food.

Space
In addition to having the right conditions, your food storage area should be large, depending on how many people live in your home. Think of it this way: How much food do you buy in a week, and how much space does that take? Now multiply that by 52. Even when packing efficiently, your food could easily fill up a large walk-in closet.

Convenience
Food does not last forever, and hopefully you won't be forced to eat it to survive. But if you're not, you'll need to rotate through it. As the saying goes, "Store what you eat, and eat what you store." This means your food should be somewhere accessible. If you have to walk to the far end of your house, go through several doors, and dig through piles of clothes and boxes, then you probably won't bother eating your storage food and it will go bad. This is money down the drain. Instead, keep your food in a room near the kitchen and install shelves so you can find what you're looking for.

Privacy
It is very important that you don't keep your food out in the open. When the SHTF, people are going to remember the guy who had a room full of extra food. It will be both difficult and dangerous to turn people away, so it's better if no one knows you have extra food in the first place, not even friends. If even one of your friends knows about your supply, he's liable to tell a dozen others and your food won't last a week. Make sure your food is in a locked room or closet that a house guest cannot open. Only the people who are meant to eat the food should know it's there.

Possible Locations
With all this in mind, take a look at these locations. Some of them aren't usually good locations for storing food, but it depends on where you live. See if the conditions are right.

• The basement. Nice and cool. Watch out for dryer vents and furnaces.
• Under the stairs. Think about installing hooks and shelves.
• Closets. Another place where you can install shelves. It's a good idea to have a lock on the door.
• Utility room. This might be okay if it is very well ventilated, otherwise the heat and moisture from your washer and dryer could be a problem.
• The kitchen. If you have tons of cupboard space, go for it! Just don't use the cupboards right next to the sink, refrigerator or oven (if there are any such cupboards in your kitchen).
• Under the bed. Measure how high your bed is from the floor and find some appropriate-sized totes with wheels that will slide underneath.
• Inside coffee or end tables. A large chest can be used as a coffee table, or a bucket with a cloth draped over it can make a good end table.
• The garage. Usually a bad place unless you keep it closed and the temperature is constant.
• The attic. Also a bad place unless it is well-insulated and the temperature is constant. Probably too inconvenient.

Once you've settled on a good location for your food, you'll be ready to start stocking up. There's no excuse for putting it off any longer. Good luck!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5636714

 

Chicken Breast Recipes

Chicken Breast Recipes

Delicious chicken breast is very popular in European countries. In this short article, I will give you the opportunity to prepare 3 awesome and easy chicken breast recipes.
Peanut Stuffed Chicken Breast
~ 1 Table spoon of dried Mint
~ 1/2 Cup of Peanut butter
~ 12 Chicken breasts
~ 1 Packet of G. Washington Golden bouillon mix
~ 1/8 Cup of Honey

Peanut Stuffed Chicken Breast instructions:
Remove the bone from the chicken breasts by not damaging the meat. After that, pull off Gobbets and shreds. Mix the following well (honey, peanut butter, mint and cumin) all together in a bowl. Put it into the microwave for about 30 seconds. On each piece of meat spread about 2-3 teaspoon of the mixture (peanuts butter mixture you have just made).

Roll 1/12 of the gobbets and shreds together with the breast in order to make them into packets. Attached the packet and tie it with a toothpick. In the crock pot, arrange the 12 prepared packets into layers. Mix well water in the bowl with any peanut butter remaining.
Pour the packet of bouillon over the chicken packets. Cover the packets with additional water to about a depth of at least 1 inch put the crock pot on high for about 5 hour 30 minutes. Remove the packets (from the pot) and drain it on a platter.
Invite some friends to share this wonderful dish you've prepared. This may be the first step to discover your new talents.

Serve for 1 family.
Italian Stuffed Chicken breast
~ 1 spoon of Melted butter
~ 1 Spoon of Parmesan cheese
~ 1 table spoon of Bread crumbs
~ 1/2 Cup of Tomato sauce
~ 1/4 cup of Havarti or Swiss cheese
~ 1/4 Tea spoon of dried oregano
~ 4 oz Chicken breast

Italian Stuffed Chicken Breast instruction:
Put the Oregano, crumbs and parmesan cheese all together and mix all. Cut the breast in a thin way. Roll the chicken breasts with Swiss cheese or havarti. Brush and cover with butter. Put the breast into the mixture and mix it well. Bake them at 325 degrees for about 35 minutes. Put the sauce and continue baking for an additional of 10 minutes.

Add some chili and salt up to your taste, because taste and flavor varies depending people.
Tips: I like chili so I have added some chili after the dish was ready and it tasted very good and just wanted to retake another one. Here what you get for about 1 hour of preparation and cooking brings on some beers and watches a good movie. Have a nice movie.

Cheesy Chicken Breast:
1 packet Cream cheese
Chicken breast deboned
Bread crumbs or Kellogg
Melted butter or margarine
Cornflake crumbs

Cheesy Chicken Breast Instruction:
You must Thinned the chicken breasts between two sheets of wax. In each chicken breast put a cube of cheese and roll them. Put the chicken breast in butter then roll it in bread crumbs. Put in a microwave recipient and cook on high for about 6 to 9 minutes.

This is the easiest way to do cook a delicious and easy food. Have a nice movie with these snacks. If ever you want to have a party, this is the right snack to be served at the start. My best way to cook and to share it with friends is when we have a get together and share the food around a good movie.

Shannon N. Jefferson gets her recipes from [http://quickrecipesdy.info/] so be sure to stop by and check for new updates. She also loves to eat awesome restaurant recipes at: [http://secretrecipesdy.info/]

Article source :  http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shannon_N_Jefferson

Recipes

Cooking Recipes Know Where To Look For Success

Cooking Recipes Know Exactly where To Appear For Success

Have you ever had the craving to get a certain dish or meal, but cannot appear to find a recipe for it? If this sounds like you, there is certainly no must fret. The reality of the matter is that recipes are available all over the location. Simply because you are not a master chef will not mean that you simply can not locate cooking recipes. Should you know where to appear for recipes you ought to in no way have any problem acquiring began along with your next delicious meal.

Listed here are 3 areas that you simply can find cooking recipes with out getting to invest hours searching for them.

1. The most obvious place to discover cooking recipes is in a cookbook. Paper recipes are what the majority of people turn to when they are attempting to make a dish that they're not familiar with. Right after all, paper recipes allow you to help keep the directions handy as you move through the procedure. The excellent thing about cookbooks is that you will find hundreds of them for sale, with each and every on touching on an unique subject. You can find a cookbook that covers every thing from bread generating to desserts.

2. When looking for cooking recipes never overlook a great friend. Chances are that should you like to cook, you most likely know somebody else that shares the passion. Why not swap recipes in order that everyone can enjoy? Trading paper recipes having a buddy is among the most overlooked techniques of locating new dishes to make.

3. Of course, you'll be able to look for recipes on-line. If there is one thing that you simply require data on in a hurry, the internet may be the location to appear. Personal computer recipes allow you to find what you'll need without having possessing to purchase a single issue. Furthermore, many people have decided to go the internet route because they can print out the pc recipes and take them for the kitchen. It doesn't get much less difficult than that.

Regardless of what kind of recipe you might be in need of, the fact of the matter is the fact that they can be located within a number of various locations. If you don't have luck with one of the choices listed above, you'll be able to usually attempt the next. And if none of them work for you, why not find your personal way of compiling recipes?

The bottom line is the fact that you don't need to be a cooking skilled to find high quality recipes.

Article source :by Domenicos Moffatts on http://goarticles.com/article/Cooking-Recipes-Know-Where-To-Look-For-Success/6518892/

 

Mexican Food

Cooking Ideas for Making Tasty Traditional Mexican Food

It might surprise you to know that Mexican food is considered to be the most varied in the world after Chinese food. Every region of the country has its own food style and Mexican cuisine in vast. The Mexican food eaten in the Yucatan is especially exciting, since it is a unique mixture of Mexican, Mayan, Caribbean and Lebanese influences.

 

 

Not all Mexican foods are spicy but some are and chili peppers are widely used in Mexican dishes. There are many kinds of chili peppers including jalapeo, pasilla, habanero, poblano, serrano and more. Mexicans eat a varied diet of fresh fish, meat, seafood, poultry, grains, fruit, and vegetables. Sauces, stews, and soups are common fare and Mexican cooking methods include slow roasting, deep-frying, and baking.

Mexicans like to eat fresh fruit and vegetables and anything older than two days is not considered fresh. Costly pesticides and herbicides are hardly used and produce is picked when ripe or very nearly ripe. Imported food is usually shunned in favor of locally grown produce and everything is grown nearby. The exception would be Mexico City, where produce that is not likely to be sold is exported.

Traditional Mexican Food

Tortillas are so much a Mexican food staple that the price in controlled by the government and kept at five pesos a kilo! A tortilla is a ball of masa, or corn dough, which is flattened into a thin disc. They are traditionally made of corn and supermarkets make them fresh all day. Tortillas are used to make traditional Mexican tacos. Authentic tacos are soft, not like the rigid U-shaped Taco Bell variety.

 Tamales, tortillas, and tacos are traditionally made from corn. A lot of soups and stews include fava beans, kidney beans, and lentils. Tomatoes are used in various Mexican food recipes and especially in salsa recipes.

Fruit is enjoyed fresh or used to make desserts and sauces. Mango, papaya, pineapple, and coconut are all popular with Mexicans and nopales, prickly pear cactus paddles, are sauted and eaten like vegetables. Alternatively, they can be sweetened and used in Mexican dessert recipes.

Salsas and Condiments

A lot of people favor the addition of salsa, lime, or sour cream to their food. In a traditional Mexican restaurant, you will also get small bowls of condiments. These are likely to include chopped onion, cilantro, a mild chili salsa, a hot chili salsa, salsa Mexicana and lime. Salsa Mexicana is made from chopped onion, chopped fresh tomato, cilantro and habanero chili. You might also get guacamole, which is an avocado and lime sauce. Charred green onion mixed with salsa ingles (Worcestershire sauce) and limejuice is another well-liked Mexican condiment.

Mexican food is rich in color and flavor and fresh produce is very important. There are probably more myths about Mexican food than any other cuisine, with people confusing Tex Mex and Mexican style fast food for the real thing but real Mexican cuisine is a real joy.

Article source : by KC Kudra on http://goarticles.com/article/Cooking-Ideas-for-Making-Tasty-Traditional-Mexican-Food/1425074/

Chinese Food

HEALTHY CHINESE FOOD

America is sometimes referred to as a junk food nation, which is not an exaggeration whatsoever! Astonishingly, one out of every four Americans eat junk food on a daily basis and most of the junk food dishes that we tend to consume are Chinese! The meals that we generally find in the Chinese restaurants looks tempting also it tastes delicious as well. It's commonly believed that the Chinese recipes are unhealthy and should be avoided if one is aiming for weight reduction. In my opinion, it's not fair so far as the Chinese delicacies are concerned.

When considering Chinese food, we often imagine only about the deep-fried dishes, heavy meat chucks and calorie loaded sauce covered noodles! Right? Well, authentic Chinese food can provide a huge blow to this imagination. Actually, you will find quite a few healthy Chinese dishes that people clearly neglect. As a matter of fact, you could order many healthier recipes, without having to worry about your health!

Healthy Chinese Food

The authentic Chinese food that we was referring to is actually among the healthiest foods you can have. Chinese meals are good for you, if you know what to order! Chinese cuisine employs lots of vegetables and various types of rice, hence, you have to always try to capitalize on this time. Secondly, Chinese food is available in larger serving sizes, hence, you have to order smaller meals and request extra vegetables (without hesitation)! Well, below are great tips for you to make healthy Chinese diet.

Steamed Rice
Chinese cuisine utilizes rice in the various forms and it is not difficult to obtain the healthier one of them all. Preferably, choose brown rice or steamed white rice. The brown rice contains a lot more than 3.5 gm healthy dietary fibers, as the steamed white rice contains 1gm from it. The fried rice, however contains 14gm of fats within an 8 oz serving size! What this means is, that you will have to stop consuming fried rice, totally! You skill is, go for the brown rice and whenever the restaurant doesn't have it, you'll be able to always settle on the steamed white rice!

Lean Meat
However outlandish it appears, but avoid meats and replace all of them with vegetarian recipes for healthy Chinese food. The majority of us believe that the Chinese food is about healthy lean meats, but they conveniently your investment red meats of pork, beef, lamb and chicken, that are extremely high in cholesterol and fatty foods. If you just cannot do without that Peking duck, then go for that smaller serving sizes and restrict it to two oz to 3 oz!

Stir Fry + Noodles
Stir frying is among the healthier Chinese cooking methods, which utilizes less of cooking oil. Basically, the noodles consist of refined carbohydrates, which you should always be watchful for. The stir fried recipes, which emphasize on steamed noodles (rather than fried noodles) and loads of vegetables, is a better choice, that can take care of those additional carbs. If you're wondering whether the brown colored noodles are constructed with brown rice, then allow me to clear that those noodles are loathed using the heavy oils, which are employed for cooking!

Foods to Eat

This is a generalized list of healthy Chinese diet for you.

Steamed rice
Vegetable spring rolls
Garlic shrimp
Mushroom chicken
Broccoli and beef
Chicken and peas
Mandarin chicken
Shrimp chow mein
Moo Goo Gai Pan
Shrimp or chicken chop suey
Lettuce wraps
Kung Pao Chicken stir fry
Shrimp with lobster sauce stir fry
Egg drop soup
Wonton soup
Hot-and-sour soup
Steamed dumplings
Teriyaki chicken skewer

Typically, china food has a high sodium content and therefore, it is better to avoid any other in your diet like soda and salt, whenever you consume Chinese foods! Surprisingly, eating with chopsticks actually limits use of excessive oils from the foods, than forks or even the spoons.

Foods NOT to Eat

This is a generalized list which you must avoid.

General Tso's chicken
Battered or fried appetizers
Egg rolls
Kung Pao chicken
Hoisin or sweet and sour sauce

Choose the food recipes which have words like Chu (broiled), Jum (poached), Kow (roasted), Shu (barbecued) mentioned together. Foods that are lightly stir fried, dry stir fried and/or braised may also be included as healthy chinese food options. It appears weird at a glance, but you have to know what that dish means in Chinese! Anything putting aside the above mentioned dishes including fried, breaded or coated must strictly be ignored.

Article source : Chris Hendrickson on http://goarticles.com/article/Healthy-Chinese-Food/7622463/