Easy Healthy Salad - Strawberry Lemon Salad

Eating right leads to a healthier life. While it is so simple an idea it not as easy as it sounds. Proper nutrition choices should be the main motivation for us home cooks.
This healthy recipe is fast, flavorful and nutritious and can easily be prepared within 30 minutes or less. Perfect when you get home from a long and tiring day at work and too drained to cook that big meal. This dish can be served as an appetizer or as a dessert. Strawberry-lemon salad is thoroughly refreshing with a balance of flavors that will surprise your palate: bitter, sweet, and sour. The rind of the lemon are sliced into thin strips and heated in sweet sugar syrup, then used to garnish the slices of strawberries. Lemon sauce is poured on the dish and a sprig of mint is used to decorate and add fresh flavor. It is also served with scoops of lemon sorbet making this ultra-invigorating. Add Macaroon pieces at the end of the recipe, which has already been prepared beforehand. You can also purchase macaroons in a pastry shop, create your own, or substitute it with other similar pastries. The starch will contrast to the fruits and give it a dry dimension.
Here is how to make this awesome healthy recipe.
Cooking Recipe Preparation time
• Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking Recipe Ingredients
• 6 lemons
• 0.55 lbs. strawberries
• 3.5 oz. sugar
• 0.33 lbs. pectin
• 4 scoops of lemon sorbet
• 8 macaroon pieces
Cooking recipe preparation instructions
1. Peel the 2 lemons.
2. Mince the lemon peels. Blanch in cold water and drain.
3. Preserve the lemon peels in a mixture of half water, half sugar.
4. Recover the lemon juice.
5. Add 0.33 lbs. sugar. Bring to boil.
6. Add the pectin, boil again, and skim (remove the mousse).
7. Wash and prepare the strawberries. Cut them into quarters.
8. For the presentation, spread the lemon sauce over the serving dish. Place a scoop of lemon sorbet on top of it and lay the strawberries around it. Decorate with some fresh mint leaves and preserved lemon peels.
This refreshing salad dessert can be combined with a sweet wine such as Maury's vins doux naturels, which is made of Grenache grape varieties. This kind of wine is extremely fruity and will complement well with the sweetness of the strawberry, the bitterness of the lemon skins, and the sweet-sourness of the lemon sauce. While it is very simple to make, this dish has complex and intricately layered flavors that can be savored unhurriedly for superior enjoyment.

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Short Overview of the Most Popular Fruits for Smoothies

Smoothies are not only healthy but also delicious. The amount of minerals they consist of enchanted us. You can drink it without feeling guilty about this short moment of pleasure. How could you resist such a perfect drink?
One Fruit to Rule Them All
I've been questioned about this stuff time after time -- what is the best fruit to put into a smoothie? Is there such a fruit, which must always be included in smoothies we make?
I have to let you down, however -- there is no such thing. All of the fruits were made almost equal, some have more vitamins, other have more enzymes, but there aren't any better fruits or worse. It all comes down to your taste and your preferences. Just remember, that when you want to identify how nutritious a fruit is, everything depends upon how it is prepared. Here comes a description of the most famous fruits that are used to create smoothies.
The Most Famous Fruits
I reckon that no fruit's as popular as oranges. Oranges are not only the most favored fruit, but they're also amongst the most cherished ones. The truth is that they are both healthy and delightful. Oranges are full of magnesium, which is a chemical element that can help our organism sustain normal blood pressure. Therefore it's among the most healthy fruits in existence.
When conversing about delicious and famous fruits, strawberries need not to be forgotten. It would be a disgrace to leave them out not just because of their delightful taste, but additionally because they are equally nutritious as oranges. Strawberries are jam-packed with riboflavin (vitamin B2), which is accountable for body growth (crucial for children). This fruit is additionally really light and very delicious -- sweet and delicate.
As you probably know, bananas can easily be made into a smoothie and taken as is. However, the real reason why we like smoothies so much is because their taste is more complex. Bananas are very useful while preparing smoothies, because they add the extra thickness to the drink. In case you prefer your smoothie sweet, incorporating bananas may help you achieve that. Also, bananas contain tryptophan, a substance which makes people happier compared to what they usually are.
To Sum Up
What you should bear in mind at all times is that the beauty of a smoothie lies in its simplicity. If you try mixing up too many fruits, chances are you'll end up with a smoothie that is not only very complex, but also absolutely inedible. Each of the mentioned three fruits is a perfect base for a delightful, smart smoothie.
To make things interesting, don't settle for those 3 fruits only, test as frequently as you can. Bananas fit with honey, honey goes well with oats, oats and honey are exceptionally nutritious. Like just about anything else, preparing smoothies is something of an art; in order to make the perfect one you ought to learn a lot.

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Unique Vegetable Soup

You are probably wondering about the perfect food that is quick and easy to prepare, has myriads of choices of ingredients, benefits you with better health, and is cost effective to make? Then, the answer to all your questions is vegetable soup.
Why is vegetable soup so important?
For starters, this soup is very easy to prepare. With just few easy steps, anyone can prepare it.
There are plenty of soups recipes available. You can try out different vegetables every time you prepare it.
Although for most recipes, the method of preparation remains the same, it may vary a little depending on the ingredients you choose.
You may not have adequate vegetables in your diet at the moment. For instance, most American diets have a lesser vegetable content. So, with vegetable soup, you can boost your vegetable intake to meet your five-a-day recommended portion.
Consuming this soup is advantageous to your health, as vegetables reduce the chances of heart disease, hypertension, Diabetes, it protects you against specific type of cancers, and, in general, it leads to an increase in the body's resistance against many diseases and aliments through improving the body's immune system.
If you are weight conscious, vegetable soup acts like a diet soup, which limits unwanted calories and fat build-up in your body unlike other foods. It can help you reduce and maintain the required weight.
If you are sick, vegetable soup acts like a healthy soup that improves your health by providing you with the necessary nutrients.
Here are some ingredients to prepare vegetable soup:
50 grams each of any two vegetables. They can be carrots, onions, potatoes, cauliflower, etc. They can be scraped and chopped depending on your choice.
200 grams of tomatoes.
20 grams of butter.
1 tablespoon of oats
2 teaspoons of ginger and garlic paste
50 milliliters of fresh skimmed milk
2 teaspoons of oil
1 tablespoon of flour (all purpose)
1 teaspoon of pepper powder
Salt as per your taste
1 - 2 green chilies
5 - 6 cups of water
5 - 6 neatly chopped Coriander leaves.
Method of preparation of vegetable soup:
You have to ignite or switch on your stove, and place a pan on it.
Put 5 - 10 grams of butter in the pan, and heat it. You have to let the butter span across the pan as it melts.
Put the ginger and garlic paste into the pan, and fry it for 2 - 3 minutes, stirring it so that it does not stick to the pan.
Put in the vegetables and tomatoes into the pan.
Put in 5 - 8 cups of water, and let it boil. Time is dependent on the flame intensity.
When you feel the vegetables are cooked, you can sprinkle some pepper powder upon it depending on your taste.
Now, you have to mix milk, flour, and oats in a jug, and then add the mixture to the pan.
Now, you can decrease the flame intensity to a simmer.
Fry oil with a mixture of the Coriander leaves and green chilies for about 1 - 2 minutes in another pan, and then transfer it to the vegetable soup pan. Take care to protect yourself from the oil if it spurts when you transfer it to the soup.
Simmer for 2 more minutes, and stir the contents well.
Now your vegetable soup is ready.

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Maintaining A Healthy Diet While At Work

One of the problems that many of us face when we work for a living is the fact that it can be quite difficult to eat healthily through the day. As a matter of fact, we may find that we are simply grabbing something as quick as possible from vending machines or candy machines that may be at our place of business. Quite obviously, this is not going to result in our having the optimum health that we would desire and it can actually cause problems in the long run that are difficult to control. That being said, what are some of the things that you can do to ensure that you are eating as healthy as possible when you are stuck at work?
One of the more obvious points to eating healthy is the fact that you must be prepared in advance. If you are leaving everything to chance, it is likely that you are going to be hitting one of the candy machines in your office at sometime during the day. This can be disastrous for your waistline, as well as your overall health. If you plan in advance, on the other hand, and bring yourself some food that is healthier than what comes out of the vending machines at work, you will be in a better position. What are some of the options that are open to you?
Some people find that it is very beneficial to do all of their cooking on one or two days every week. If you cook on the weekend, it is often possible for you to cook enough that you will be good for the majority of the week. Having the food prepared in advance and even distributed in smaller Tupperware containers will make it easy for you to grab a pre-prepared lunch and take it with you in the morning. This will help you to avoid the fast food restaurants and the other unhealthy options that are available to you in the work environment.
Another thing that you are going to need in order to be successful with eating healthy is proper motivation. When you are first starting some type of a healthy eating regime, it can be very difficult to stick with it for the long run. As a matter of fact, it is often estimated that you have to go at least 21 days without a particular food or type of food before it becomes a habit. If you are able to stick with it for that long, you may just find that you are able to avoid it for the rest of your life.
One final thing that you should consider is the fact that being healthy is not just a matter of eating healthy. Exercise and getting plenty of rest are also going to play key parts in being healthy at work and in your home environment. Get outside and get some fresh air when possible and if all you can do is walk, by all means go for a walk. The more you spend time exercising, the less you will have a problem with your health.

The author has worked in the food industry for many years and can see the rise in healthy food consumption in the market. He suggest to those who work in a office, to replace the candy machines they have in there with some healthy vending machines alternatives. This will help them stay away from junk foods and maintain their healthy diet.

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Tips to Make Easy Citrus Chicken

Chicken is one of those entrees that can get boring quickly. How many chicken rice and mushroom casseroles can you eat anyway?
The advantages of chicken include it's relatively cheap, tastes good, and cooks quickly. Here's a recipe that is adaptable for any season. The tang of the citrus brings out the best in the chicken. The herbs add a fresh note and more flavor. If you don't like garlic, use scallions instead. Change the citrus and herbs and it's a brand new dish. Here are tips to make easy citrus chicken.
4 Chicken breasts, 8 thighs or 8 drumsticks
1 orange
2 lemons
2 limes
1 pink grapefruit
4 slices of citrus fruit
1/2 cup chopped herbs, sage, cilantro, parsley or tarragon
3 cloves chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste
This dish includes all four citrus fruits. However, you could use only one fruit and herb, such as lemon and tarragon for a French dish, limes and cilantro for Southwest flavor -- add a 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes, or Orange and sage.
Zest the fruit, leaving the white pith. That's bitter and won't add any flavor. Squeeze the citrus fruit until you have at least 1 cup of juice. Add the zest, garlic and chopped herbs. Reserve 1/2 cup of the marinade.
Pull the skin away from the chicken but don't remove it. You want the marinade to bath the chicken meat. Add the marinade. Push some of the herbs, zest and garlic under the skin. Refrigerate for a minimum of four hours up to overnight.
Now you have your choice of cooking methods. Pull the skin back over the chicken meat. The skin keeps the meat moist. Brown in a skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil over high heat. Lower the heat and let simmer for 30 to 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, the juices run clear and the meat is no longer opaque. Or brown the chicken then transfer to a slow-cooker with the marinade. Add enough chicken broth to cover the meat. Cook for four to eight hours depending on your slow-cooker.
Or put the chicken straight from the fridge into a baking pan. Add the marinade. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
Serve with couscous or rice. Add the reserved marinade to the rice or couscous during the last five minutes of cooking. Actually with the couscous add the boiling water, stir then immediately add the marinade. Cover for five minutes then fluff with a fork.
Plate the chicken adding a slice of the citrus fruit on top as a garnish. This dish is good with peas, fresh string beans or asparagus.
Make a double batch. Use the leftovers for chicken salad adding 1/4 cup of the citrus juice you used for the marinade, 1/4 cup of mayonnaise, 1/4 cup dried cranberries, 1/2 cup of chopped celery and one small can of mandarin oranges.
Now you know how to make easy citrus chicken.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7338223

Picnic Recipes: Easy, Healthy and Fresh

Making a picnic memorable is about having a great time with friends and loved ones. It is about playing, laughing and enjoying l'art de vivre! What a better time than a picnic to enjoy your favorite food and drinks?
I have been enjoying picnics for a long time with fiends and family. I have tried everything from sandwiches to grilled chicken and Indian food in a variety of places. The best picnics are always those in which I made the cooking part of the picnic experience.
Because a successful picnic starts with the right menu, in this article, I will show you four easy recipes that will increase your choices beyond the typical sandwich, cheese and bread. All you need is your ingredients in your picnic basket, the recipe, and you are ready to go! No need to keep anything warm. You will be able to prepare a healthy and fresh meal wherever you go.
Here there are four easy recipes:
Fresh Guacamole
Ingredients:
2 avocados
1 medium size tomato
¼ of a small onion
¼ cup of cilantro
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
Salt
Preparation:
Chop the tomato, onion and cilantro in small pieces. Cut the avocado in half, remove fruit by running a spoon next to the skin. Smash the avocados in a bowl. Add all the ingredients and mix them well.
Egg-Potato Salad
Ingredients:
3 big potatoes
4 eggs
3 branches of celery
¼ cup of mayonnaise
¼ cup of sour cream
Preparation:
Boil the eggs and the potatoes. Cut the potatoes in pieces (medium size). Chop the celery branches. Cut the eggs in half. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
Cheese Guacamole
Ingredients:
2 avocados
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ of a small onion
Salt
Preparation:
Chop the onion in small pieces. Cut the avocado in half, remove fruit by running a spoon next to the skin. Smash the avocado in a bowl. Add the onion, cheese and salt to the bowl. Mix all the ingredients.
Tuna Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
10 oz of Farfalle pasta
10 oz of tuna fish (in can)
4 oz of mozzarella cheese
2 large carrots
2 branches of celery
¼ cup of mayonnaise
¼ cup of sour cream
Preparation:
Boil the pasta. Cut the carrots, the celery's branches and the mozzarella cheese in small pieces. Add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them well.
I hope that you will enjoy these recipes sharing with your friends and loved ones in your next picnic experience.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7333127

Paleo Chili Is a Great Staple

If you're like me, one of the most challenging aspects of changing to a Paleo lifestyle was having reliable staple foods that 1) I wanted to eat, 2) were easy to prepare, and 3) would generally last a workweek. One of the greatest dishes I was lucky to catch onto early in my Paleo experience was CHILI. Chili is delicious. I love chili and most other people do as well. It's easy to prepare and will keep well in the fridge for three or four days fresh. It even gets better the next day. What more could you ask for! If you are really prepared you can even make a huge batch and portion it off and freeze the individual portions for defrosting and reheating whenever you are ready for it.
Traditional Texas Chili is just meat and chili sauce anyway usually a slurry of stewed peppers, chili powders and tomato sauce. The meat can be anything from ground beef to barbequed brisket. This meal is Paleo-ready from the word GO!
The essential ingredients to any great chili:
Protein: This can be any meat and the more Paleo the better. Meat with lots of connective tissue are less expensive than the leaner cuts, have more fat, which is great for Paleo, and benefit from the long slow slimmer type of cooking that chilis require. A short list of some of my favorite red meats are: ground beef or bison(no less than 20% fat), chuck round roast, chuck blade roast, brisket, flank, or short ribs. You really want meat with connective tissue in it as this turns to gelatin as it is heated over a long slow period of time and this naturally thickens the chili and gives it the umami every great chili offers.
Alternative meats include ground turkey, chicken, fish or crustaceans. All of these make wonderful chilis however if you go with a seafood for the protein I find these are better eaten right away as opposed to frozen to be eaten later.
Vegetables: Any vegetable that lasts up to a nice long cook is valuable in this recipe. Of course, it should be Paleo-friendly so beans and potatoes are not included (although recent studies have shown that some potato varieties are fine for Paleo). My go-to veggies are onion, tomatoes, green peppers, and carrot. Yes, I know carrot is not what most people think of when they think of "chili". That's OK, carrot adds a natural sweetness to the chili and cant stand up to a long cook, plus they freeze well. Plus, I like it, and I'm the one eating it.
The Chili "Broth": This is really where you can stand out. For me, a great chili broth is a combination of heat and sweetness with the taste of beef to balance it out. A good broth requires quality chili powder. You can buy good chili powder at a variety of places. I personally like Penzey's Chili Powder if I use a store brand. Without a doubt, the best chili powder is one you make at home using dried chilis. You can buy an assortment of chilis from vendors throughout the Southwest and have them shipped to you. Once at home, they usually require another slow drying in an low oven (around 200 degrees) for an hour or so until they are very brittle and will powderize in a food processor. Once they are this dry you can buzz them into powder combine with other dry spices.
The spices found in most chili powders: dried chilis (Guajillo, Chipotle, Arbol), Paprika, Coriander seed, Cumin seed, Cinnamon, Mexican Oregano, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, and Peppercorns. Here is a basic chili powder for ratios of each. However, you must experiment with the taste as you make it as the raw ingredients will vary in quality, freshness, etc and you must adjust so that it tastes good. Most people never taste their Chili until its been cooking for hours, I say start with tasting the chili powder with a dab on your finger and go from there.
Black Fly Chili Powder
5 dried Guajillo Chiles
3 dried Chipotle Chiles
3 dried Arbol Chiles
1 Tbs Paprika (Spanish)
1 Tbs Coriander (toast in a low dry skillet watching and stirring so it doesn't burn about two to three minutes)
1 Tbs Cumin (toast, see above)
1 Cinnamon Stick
2 tsp Mexican Oregano
2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp black Peppercorns.
Black Fly Paleo Chili
Get a big pot, enough to make at least eight servings. I use a clay pot my Sister gave me, but use what you have. Brown off the protein and remove to a plate. Leave the fat and bits in the pot. Add the onions, green peppers and carrots and cook until they are nearly soft on low to low-medium heat. Now for the liquid. I add a large can 23 oz of stewed tomatoes (not the kind with basil), a 14 oz can of beef broth and the chili powder. Bring this to a boil. Once this is boiling, return the meat to the pot and simmer for 1 - 2 hours. You can skim fat if you must, but this is Paleo so why should you? If it is not sweet enough, you can add a touch of agave to sweeten. Not too much now. This doesn't have to be sweet. If it is not hot enough for you, float a raw jalapeno in it during cooking and remove at the end. How much vegetables? 1 Chopped Large Yellow Onion, 1-2 Chopped Green Peppers, 2 Peeled Diced Carrots. That's it. It's easy, healthy and delicious. Enjoy the Chili! I hope your Paleo experience is as great as mine.

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Halloween Recipe - Kooky Kakeball Spiders

Halloween, my favorite holiday, is going to be here in a couple of weeks. Every year I make up a few recipes to celebrate this fun night and bake with my kids. This year I came up with several Halloween treats using cakeball mixture. Cakeballs are easy to make and so are my "Kooky Kakeball Spiders".
Making Halloween "Kooky Kakeball Spiders" is also a fun way to help your children learn how to read and follow step-by-step directions. The ability to read sequential directions is required in nearly every aspect of our children's lives.
Here's What You'll Need:
Ingredients:
1 -Chocolate Cake Mix
1 -Tub of Pre-made Chocolate Frosting
1 -36 ounces of. Chocolate Chips
1 -Jar of Decorative Chocolate Sprinkles
1 -Small Bag of Black Licorice
1- Small Bag of Red-Hot Candy
1 - Small Box of Toothpicks
Additional Supplies:
A Double Boiler
Wax Paper
Cookie Sheets
Step-by-Step Directions
Making the Spider's Body
1. Prepare and bake cake according to baking directions in any size baking pan you choose.
2. Cool chocolate cake then drop it into a large mixing bowl.
3. Crumble cake apart into bite- size pieces, with a fork,
4. Open tub of pre-made chocolate frosting. Whip it with a spatula to make it creamy.
5. Fold creamy chocolate frosting into crumbled cake until mixed well.
6. Place cakeball mixture into the refrigerator to cool for about thirty minutes.
7. After cooling, take cooled cakeball mixture and mold into balls with your hands. This mixture will make approximately 18 medium size cakeballs.
8. Place cakeballs on cookies sheets lined with waxed paper.
9. Place cakeballs in freezer and freeze till firm, about two hours.
10.While cakeballs are freezing slowly melt the 36oz. of chocolate chips over a double boiler. Stir occasionally.
Making the Spider's Legs
1. Open the bag of black licorice and separate the licorice sticks. Cut each licorice stick lengthwise with kitchen scissors.
2. Next, cut each licorice piece in half. You will need 108 legs for eighteen spiders
3. To secure the licorice legs to each spider pierce a toothpick into each one end of each licorice leg.
4. Snip the toothpicks off about 2" with a pair of wire-cutters. This keeps the long toothpick from sticking out the other side of the cakeball spider, when inserted.
5. Poor bag of red-hot candies into a bowl. Ready for decorating the cakeball spiders. One bag should be enough for eighteen spiders, if the kids don't eat them.
Putting the Spiders Together
1. Line three cookie sheets with wax paper.
2. Remove cakeballs from freezer, Freezing the helps the melted chocolate grab onto cakeballs.
3. Take a fork and pierce a cakeball of the cookie sheet,
4. Immerse the cakeball into the melted chocolate. Let excess drip off.
5. Take decorative chocolate sprinkles and sprinkle on top of cakeball.
6. Insert six licorice spider legs on each side of the
7. Pop on two red-hot candies for the spider's eyes, and you've made a "Kooky Kakeball Spider".
"Kooky Kakeball Spiders" are fairly big treats. You'll need to make room in your kitchen to assemble each spider, and allow them to dry. Also, each spider needs to be made one at a time so the chocolate sprinkles, eyes and legs can be attached, while the chocolate is still warm. To see a picture of this Halloween dessert stop by my website.
ENJOY! Have a Happy Halloween Have fun getting into the Halloween spirit at the same time.

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