Recipes To Share

Archive for May, 2009

Everyone in our house loves rice. We can’t live without it. We’re very picky about our rice. My hubby doesn’t like it if I serve him too sticky rice. My kid whines if the rice is too coarse. We used to have a 3 cupper, but it disappointed us.

My primary concern is size. We always eat rice, so having a small rice cooker is never a good idea. Good thing my mother gave me a Zojirushi 5 cup rice cooker. Below are some features you must check when getting 5 cup rice cookers.

Volume

My friend was very disappointed when she tried her new 5 cup rice cooker. She was confident of the capacity so she put 5 cups of uncooked rice in the rice cooker. She left it to do some chores, confident that the rice cooker would do the rest. But when she got back, her cooker was splattering all over. It was a mess.

So it’s best to read the specs when you’re choosing a 5 cup rice cooker. Are you getting a ‘5 cups dry’, or a ‘5 cups cooked’ rice cooker. There’s a huge difference.

All-aroundness

Choose a flexible 5 cup rice cooker. If you’re on a healthy diet, you might want something that allows you to cook healthy food. In addition to cooking the finest rice, your rice cooker should also allow you to steam veggies and fish and make stews and soups.

Dishwasher-friendliness

When choosing a 5 cup rice cooker, look for one that has easy-to-clean parts. Some rice cookers make a real mess as the rice being cooked bubbles up through the steam vent. Avoid these rice cookers as much as possible. Get one that has lid that barely requires washing after cooking. Go for a one that combines cool features with great engineering and that is dishwasher-friendly.

Automatic settings

Automatic timer and stop features are great for busy people. These functions spare you the hassle of going back and forth just to check your cooker. Top of the line 5 cup rice cookers have great features like delayed start mode and extended keep warm mode. Many also have settings for various types of rice.

Design

I’m sure, you don’t like your five cupper looking off on your countertop. Choose a cooker that fits your counter well. Go for a cooker that goes well with the overall kitchen design.

Drink Green Tea Every Day

Green tea and black tea are enitrely unlike. People get with these two terms. Green tea is a good health and herbal tea. Everyone knows that green tea was popular in China. And the famousness was mainly due to the health benefits that are served. There is more caffeine in black tea as compared to green tea and so it is better to consume green tea which has low caffeine.

There are so many benefits with which green tea serves. Green tea is said to have antioxidant properties and so it can fight so many infections and cancer. Green tea is also very good for heart and you can consume it and stay fit. You can have a good immune system with better defense. Also there is improvement in your metabolism. One can lose weight with green tea. Drinking one to two cups of green tea everyday can have great health results. Some other diseases which can be cured with green tea are multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, rheumatoid arthritis etc.

It is important that you know preparation of green tea. Preparing green tea is quite simple. It involves choosing the best green tea leaf so that the you get the best. You must not drink sugared green tea. Have it like that or you can use stevia. You can also use green tea for detox treatment. You can get rid of all the toxins from your body and have a wonderful immunity.

However, there are many different green tea brands available in the market. And so, while you are planning to shop for green tea it is vital for you to do some research and find out as to which tea is better. Green tea is such a famous drink. Many people think that rather than having soft drinks and energy drinks one must have green tea. Green tea can be drunk as you wish. It can be hot as well as cold.

Benefits of green tea simply can’t be ignored and so it is vital that you make alteration in your lifestyle and rather than having other unhealthydrinks rely on this green tea which is cent percent healthy.

New York City has several boutiques that offer exceptional, hand-made chocolate, many of them can only be found here in the city.

They also have cafes, chocolate events and factories where you can watch how these luxurious treats are being made. A box of luxury, fine chocolate is the perfect gift for a special occasion like Mothers Day or Valentines.

Jacques Torres Chocolate

A visit to Jacques Torres Chocolate feels like stepping into a small European specialty store. The store is filled with hand-made yummy treats. Enjoy a hot chocolate and a freshly baked pain au chocolat in the cafe while you watch delicious chocolates being made in the factory. Visit Jacques Torres DUMBO in Brooklyn or his new cafe on Hudson Street.

Martine’s Chocolates

Here you find hand-made gourmet chocolates. The chocolates are made from fresh and natural ingredients such as Belgian chocolate, French butter and fresh American cream. You can find Martines Chocolates at Bloomingdales and the new store Martines Chocolates too.

Vosges Haut-Chocolat

Vosges lets you travel the world of luxury haut-chocolates. Their bestseller says it all. It is an exotic truffle collection of gourmet dark, milk and white chocolate truffles infused with exotic and traditional spices, herbs and flowers from around the world. Go to their chocolate boutique in SoHo or Vosges Haut-Chocolate Madison Avenue and join their FREE chocolate events.

MarieBelle

With chocolate so beautiful its hard to take a bite. Here you can listen to jazz at the Cacao Bar every Wednesday from 7:30 pm to 10 pm. Visit them at MarieBelle On Madison or at MarieBelle Soho.

Li-Lac

In this shop in Greenwich Village you can find chocolates in memorable shapes such as Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building. Their chocolate dogs, dinosaurs, trains and baseballs make great gifts. You find Li-Lac Chocolates in Greenwich Village and in Market Hall in Grand Central Terminal.

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar

At Max Brenner you’re in for a different type of chocolate experience. How about chocolate soup or a chocolate pizza. Look inside and check out the chocolate pipe system.

There are 2 of these chocolate restaurant in New York City. Max Brenner on 2nd Ave and Max Brenner on Broadway.

La Maison du Chocolat

The chocolate artists at La Maison du Chocolat invites you to discover their collections: ganache, truffles, pralines, glazed chestnuts, hot chocolate Enjoy their chocolates at La Masion du Chocolat Madison Avenue, La Maison du Chocolat Rockefeller center and La Maison du Chocolat on Wall Street

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Diet is an important part of the health concern of people wherein what the person eats significantly determines his characteristics and well-being. In this interest, people exert effort and interest towards establishing and maintaining a beneficial diet regime for their well-being. One of the concerns for this interest is engaging in a healthy vegetable diet through having an access to fresh and high-quality products available in the market. However, due to other factors relative to the condition of the society in the present, high quality vegetables can be effectively achieved through establishing an effective resource for this product with personal access.
Indeed, growing your own vegetables in your backyard is, by far, the most effective measure in achieving access to health-effective vegetable products with reliable quality. Because you grow them, you know what is in them and that you are assured that no harmful chemicals and pesticides were used in their vegetation. In general, growing your own vegetable garden has numerous advantages which you can avail of and in the interest of starting one, reliable assistance can be gained from vegetable gardening books.
Guide in Starting your Own Garden
In starting your own vegetable garden, it is advisable to carefully plan first the approaches, strategies, and characteristics of your garden. In this stage, vegetable gardening books become an important asset providing significant information and an assistance guide for creating a sustainable vegetable garden. These vegetable gardening books contain in its pages relevant information pertaining to the different fields and concerns involved in vegetable gardening such as soil composition, plant identity guide, growing systems, material guides, fertilizers, insecticides, and others making them a complete guide for effective gardening. In buying, you can try comparing the content and characteristics of each book to determine which is the best vegetable gardening book for better advantage.
In the initial stage of planning, vegetable gardening books can provide adequate information and guides on how to create a sustainable garden plan including plot layout, materials needed, and plant identity for choosing. During the growth phase, these vegetable gardening tools still have relevance wherein they can provide information needed for maintaining a healthy growth through fertilizer necessity. Another is for protection purposes in which most vegetable gardening books have guides for insect threats on your garden and how to counteract them with effective insecticide measures.
For establishing a sustainable vegetable garden, it is important to have the relevant and accurate information towards this interest. For outsourcing this significant element, one can resort to vegetable gardening books for the effectiveness of their interest.

Garden sheds are the perfect solution to give you somewhere to work and also extra storage in your garden.

Being a successful organic container vegetable gardener takes a lot of time and effort.It is important to follow some basic organic vegetable gardening tips in order to set up your organic container garden properly and avoid problems. 
Organic container vegetable gardening gives people a chance to enjoy homegrown vegetables that taste better and are better for the environment, even without having any land.You can use old soda bottles, coffee cans, or any recycled containers to plant vegetables and put them on your window sill, porch, or balcony. 
The Basics
In order to start organic container vegetable gardening, you will need seeds.  Don’t buy your seeds from just anywhere however because many mainstream stores sell seeds that have been genetically modified.Buy organic seeds if you want to have a truly organic garden.
Consult a plant book with local information so you know when you should plant your seeds.In many cases it is best to start indoors but you need to make sure the plants get sunlight at least 5 hours per day.Also purchase organic slow-release or complete fertilizer to keep your plants nourished throughout the entire season. 
You can use soil in organic container vegetable gardening but you’ll have the best results if you use a peat or vermiculite-based mix.Plants in pots require more frequent watering than plants in the ground.As your plants grow and their roots get bigger, they will require even more water so check on them every day. 
The beauty of organic container vegetable gardening is that you can grow in just about any situation.Although it takes time and effort to do container gardening it is a lot easier and more convenient than gardening on a plot of land.It is also very inexpensive to get started since all you need are some containers (you can reuse old items as containers) and soil mix. 
Some popular crops for organic container vegetable gardening are radish, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, and chard, to name a few.The fact is that pretty much all vegetables can be grown in containers.Potatoes, corn, and potatoes are challenging to grow in containers however, but not impossible.You can also look for “bush” or “dwarf” varieties of crops such as small cucumber and tomato varieties that are specially bred for small-space gardening. 
In conclusion, if you want to grow your own organic vegetables either for better nutrition or to save money, organic container vegetable gardening is an excellent option.It is inexpensive and easy so anyone can get started even with a lack of land or space.  Organic vegetable gardening in containers is a fun and rewarding hobby that will make even small living space teem with life and you don’t need many tools or garden sheds.

When it comes to growing your own food, it pays to plan ahead of time about how you want to set up your own garden and garden sheds. Poor planning can result in poor plant growth, and you may end up with no vegetables at all, or at the very most, stunted, tasteless food. Before you plant the first seed, there are several steps that you need to complete, and only by planning ahead can you make all parts of your garden work together to improve its overall vitality. Vegetable gardening design can make all the difference between a complete failure and a rousing success at harvest time.

From Blueprints to Growth

Vegetable gardening design encompasses everything from the size of the garden to how long it will take to pick the vegetables as they ripen. First, you need to decide about what size garden you are prepared to take care of, as this will decide how healthy the plants are when it finally comes time to pick them. A good rule of thumb is to grow a garden within the means of what you are willing to take care of as a smaller but well cared for garden is much more rewarding than a larger, neglected garden. As such, deciding the size of the garden is the first step of vegetable gardening design.

At the same time, you also need to decide what style of garden you wish to cultivate in vegetable gardening design. One of the more popular gardening styles is French vegetable gardening, and you will be able to grow more vegetables in the same size plot. However, there are many different types of styles to choose from, and you also need to decide what types of plants you want to grow. All of these decisions need to be taken into consideration before you plant the first seed, and once you've made the decisions, you can finally start designing vegetable gardens.

Even with all of the steps of vegetable gardening design finished, you will still need to prepare the soil for vegetation. Aeration of the soil will allow more oxygen to reach plants, and fertilizers like compost or manure can provide greatly needed nutrients for the plants to grow strong and robust. Consider starting your own compost piles or bins if you haven't already, and you can fill them up with materials like grass clippings or excess food that you would just end up throwing away anyway. With vegetable gardening design and preparation complete, you can finally plant the seeds, and in a few months, you will have a fantastic, plentiful harvest.

The cost that you pay for food has gone way up . The expense of bread and milk has steadily been rising over the last couple of days. If you are like most people, then you may have been thinking about strategies to help lower on the amount that you pay. Have you considered trying a free food coupon of some of your favorite grocery items? We aren’t thinking about the food samples that they give out in the supermarket for you to try right there. We are talking about the countless food freebies that you can obtain on the internet and get them directly in the mail.

These freebies can really help you to get the products that you are already using for free. Free Food Coupons are the way to go! You may even be amazed at the amount that you would find. In many cases, you could actually get the same amount of the item that you would have bought in the supermarket. When you get the item you can scratch it off of your shopping list that week. You would have received the product by simply filling out an easy list without spending a dollar. It’s quite an easy thing to do!

So you may wonder what type of food items can you find as samples? There are an endless assortment of items you could find! Some types of groceries include java, Pepsi, cookies, diapers, and much more. You can easily find the products that you put into your grocery cart as a product sample. Why not start these simple steps that can quickly help you to slim your grocery expense.

I also get paid to dine out , I am a mystery buyer, a super secret job indeed. I am a sub-contractor for over thousand businesses. I give the service of checking sales associates, employee honesty, establishment cleanliness, and in the example of restaurants the quality of the meal.

Freebie Coupons give a wide variety of the best free items that you can get for FREE. Check out our top product freebies and discover how you can get more for less.

A Personalized wine bottle is great for your homemade wine, business clients, for restaurants, wineries or just as a special gift to a friend.  Just imagine a wine bottle with a custom label that is uniquely yours, created by you.  Your personally produced wine collection could be displayed bearing your own custom label.

If you are looking for a special gift for a wedding, anniversary celebration, a job advancement or as a thank you to someone special, personalized wine bottles add a personal flare.  It is as easy as looking online for companies that create custom labels.  Some sites may offer free templates to help you start.

Wine hobbyists who produce their own fruit wine need these personalized wine bottles to promote their line of vintages at wine shops and wineries.  These attention getting labels are just what you need to get the word out about your product.

Design a label that is uniquely yours with your family name or business name.  You can go online and create them yourself, choose the font, colors, type of paper, etc.  Most of the custom label companies will recommend your product to be printed on water resistant, matte or high gloss paper.    

Some online retailers that create personalized wine bottles also have access to several wine vintners and can send you a case of whatever wines you like, from a Merlot to Cabernet.  These premium wines, with your own personalized wine bottles, can be order by the bottle or by the case.  Make an impression on your friends or colleagues with this one of a kind gift.    

Personalized wine bottles provide the wine hobbyist with an affordable way to label their wines. You can order pre-printed, customizable labels that come in packages of five 8-1/2 x 11 inch sheets and are laser and inkjet printable.  There are label makers available complete with wine label software.  These digital personalized wine labels are printed with full color digital printing technology, yielding brilliant prints with sharp, high quality images . Digital printing also allows for short runs and multiple copy changes.

At you next event, whether it is a wedding, anniversary, retirement party or just a special dinner for a few friends, impress them with wine that is poured from a bottle that has personalized just for them.  When thanking a certain patron for their business or an employee for a job well done, consider gifting them with one of your personalized wine bottles.

There can be little doubt that beef is one of the most popular meats in the world, and this is not likely to change any time soon.

Recently, there has been copious argument over whether beef is a super food to be eaten frequently, or a real problem food to be avoided whenever you can.

So what are we to believe?, even in scientific circles, there are many views, but during the course of this column we will submit a few helpful factual tips on beef, disprove many well-known fallacies and ensure that you get the correct information needed to form your own opinion.

However, before we do so, here is a flavourful recipe that you can prepare for your dinner guests.

This is a really tasty recipe for ‘macaroni and beef chili’. It is not complicated to cook and is a rapid and efficient meal a family with lots of kids.

Ingredients:
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One Cup of Uncooked Macaroni
Low fat Minced Beef : 1/2 lb
Garlic powder : 0.5 tsp
Hot cayenne or chili Powder : one tsp
Salt : 1 small pinch
Black pepper : 1 x pinch (to taste)
A Can of Tomato Soup
Quality cheddar cheese : 1 x oz. (finely grated)

Instructions:
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Bring a large saucepan of water to a rolling boil add the macaroni, bring back to the boil and cook for 7 minutes approximately.
Fry the meat until browned in another good sized pan and very carefully drain off any fat that has been produced.
Add the garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper and then mix well.
Reduce the heat and fry gently for approximately 5 mins.
Mix in the cooked macaroni and tomato soup, and bring it to a the boil.
Cook for a few more minutes until soup and macaroni are heated through.

Before you serve, add the cheese, and heat briskly till it melts.

Ladle into bowls and deliver to your hungry diners.

This is a great beef recipe to cook in volume as left overs can be kept in the fridge and served the next day.
If you scale the recipe up, you can leave the cheese out and freeze portions for later. Simply add the cheese just before you finally serve the recipe.

Now you have a tasty beef recipe here are some scientific nutrition facts for you:

1/. The zinc that is in quality beef is imperative for normal growth, strengthens the immune system, has been proven to help heal cuts and grazes, controls hunger and appetitie and can improve your ability to experience taste.

2/. Many folk think that you must stay away from beef as thinking it includes increased levels of saturated fat. Though this might have been the case a few years ago, lean beef in the shops at the present time is noticeably less fatty than it was previously, and over fifty percent of the fatty acids found in today’s quality beef are monounsaturated fats which are considered to be healthier than other fats.

3/. Some so-called dieticians believe that dieters should steer clear of beef. If they did any research, they would soon see that this is plain wrong, in reality the 80 gram portion of beef that real experts prescribe as a sensible daily limit, is really just 10% of the regular two thousand calories per day diet.

4/. If you think about it scientifically, lean beef is nearly as healthful as buying multi-vitamin supplements as it is a tremendous source of vitamin b12, zinc, iron, niacin and phosphorus.

5/. Just a 3 ounce offering of quality beef can deliver more than a tenth of ones essential daily requirement of phosphorus, vitamin b6, protein, vitamin b12, zinc, iron and niacin.

6/. Beef is rich in Important ‘b’ vitamins, which are believed by nutritionalists to assist in preventing strokes and coronaries and also help the body to manufacture red blood corpuscles.

7/. Taking the uncooked weight,, 100 grams of beef provides:

* only 200 kcal
* 12.15g of fat.
* Potassium, 319mg.
* 3.8mg of Zinc.
* 20.71g of Protein.

If this beef recipe is not for you, why not try something completely different? By searching online, you can easily find a good selection of chicken recipes or fish recipes that should satisfy those who don’t like beef, and if you have any non-meat eaters in you family, there are just as many vegetarian recipes to enjoy.

We trust this article has given you a better comprehension of the good and bad aspects of eating beef, and also left you with a wonderful new addition to your recipe book.

The growing popularity of stemless wine glasses can also be attributed to the efforts by wine glass companies in increasing sales by developing more innovative and trendier products. This introduction of such products shows their efforts in moving towards the modern concept of living as depicted by the practicality of designs.

Features of the Stemless Wine Glass

Stemless wine glasses are comfortable to hold and if you have them engraved they can be presented as a custom made gift that will be appreciated and used for years. Stemless Wine Glasses are normally hand blown of 24% lead crystal with two distinct impressions. To hold them let your thumb and forefinger nestle in the niches and swirl the wine to aerate and release its aromas. You’ll be proud to serve up your favorite vintage in these eye catching stemless plastic wine glasses.

Casual yet elegant, these wine glasses are appropriate for fine wine enjoyment, as well as casual sipping. The wine tumblers are shaped to fit into a dishwasher and fine-tuned to enhance the pleasure of your favorite wine varietals. For the first time in glass history the design parameters such as shape of tumbler, size and diameter of rim, have been fine turned to enhance the worlds most important grape varietals.

Food pairing can be more flexible with the bowled tumbler of the stemless glass. Glass companies are also releasing several variations of the stemless wine glass that can accommodate different kinds of wines. It can also fit in with non-traditional or casual pairing as you can be more flexible with what food you will match with a particular wine. Some critics say that the stemless wine glass would hasten the warming up of the wine during drinking. However, with the new technology and designs applied by the manufacturers, this concern is addressed.