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 One of the guaranteed nicest days of spring is coming soon – that day is Mother’s Day! As usual, we’re scratching our heads, wondering what to get Mom for her special day. While our gift budget may not be as big as in years past, this doesn’t mean you can’t give Mom a terrific gift she’ll absolutely love. With our Mother’s Day food gift idea, our wallet can live another day and Mom will feel wonderfully appreciated.
Food gifts lend themselves well to personalization, so it’s easy to see that, with a little imagination and a lot of love, your Mother’s Day food gift can – almost – be for her like a day off, a mini vacation even, resort style, for good old Mom. Start by asking yourself, “what’s her favorite food?”. Does she love breakfast in bed? Brunch on the patio with a vase of freshly picked wild flowers? Does she like a formal setting at the dinner table, but rarely has the time to set it herself? Ask yourself what Mom likes most when it comes to eating. You can see how you might develop your ideas.
What if Mom’s favorite food is chocolate? Well, come to the party, with a giant box of chocolates. You can get them inexpensively and wrap each one individually yourself. Boxes can be expensive, but you can make one too. Wrap that box in festive paper and ribbon, with a lovely rose stuck through the ribbon. Sweet, simply and memorable, and made by you.
If coffee or tea is her day and night beverage, you can put together a handsome Mother’s Day food gift basket. Put an assortment of sample size bags of exotic coffees or teas, along with some cookies, into an attractive basket (that she can use later for another purpose), and tie it all up in tissue and lace. Continue Reading »
 Of all of the food options out there, you are going to have a hard time finding many people who do not love lasagna. This is one food that can be made for a party without too much complaint from anyone who is in attendance. What is great about this dish is that there are plenty of great lasagna recipes out there so that everyone can find and make their favorite version of this dish time and time again. This can be a great choice for those that eat meat and for those that choose to refrain. Try a few out and then try to come up with your own to see what you like best. It’s all about the ingredients you choose to include.
Most lasagna recipes are all the same in the way that they are made. You may find a few recipes that do not use lasagna noodles, but they are the basis for most lasagna types. If you are on a low carb eating plan, you can still have lasagna. You can buy low carb noodles and enjoy this dish with everyone else. No one will know the difference. You can get noodles you have to boil or ones that claim they can be added with no boiling required. Use what you think goes best in your recipes and then move on from there.
The most common lasagna recipes call for meat. Most people use hamburger with their favorite marinara or tomato sauce. You can use a store bought sauce if that is what you like, or you can make your own from any recipe that you love. Once you brown your meat, add the sauce and allow to simmer. Remember, some lasagna recipes call for a little meat and sauce and some do not. If you want a drier but cheesier recipe, go with less sauce. If you want moist lasagna, go with more sauce. It is all up to you. Continue Reading »
 If you were asked to name two things you’re short on, chances are, time and money would be at the top of the list. Getting a tasty meal on the table in a hurry is one of the challenges of every homemaker. Who has the time to spend hours concocting gourmet recipes for dinner? Not me, or anyone I know. Does this mean that your family has to endure fast food or box dinners in lieu of a nice home cooked meal? Absolutely not! The trick to happy family diners that are also budget friendly, lies in easy, nutritious recipes, ready in a hurry and deliver on the taste. Here we’ve got several excellent strategies for recipes for dinner that fill that bill.
The one-dish meal should be on your short list of impromptu menu ideas. One of the advantages of the one-dish meal is that you can make batches of ingredients, such as rice, ground, julienned or roasted meats and veggie combos ahead of time and freeze in dinner sized portions. Come meal time, you simply play the mix and match game. For example, if you’ve got a batch of rice, pre-seasoned and cooked ground beef and a colorful mix of veggies, it takes but a few minutes to put together a quick, healthy and tasty meal.
Other easy recipes for dinner that make that meal a snap to prepare might include a cup of salad shrimp, sliced black olives, mushrooms, snips of fresh parsley and diced onions tossed with some fettuccine and a jar of Alfredo sauce. Boil your noodles as you assemble the other ingredients in a single bowl. Drain your noodles and toss with the remaining ingredients in a large saucepan and heat over low heat. While your dinner is heating, broil some garlic bread and you’re ready to eat. What could be easier? Continue Reading »
 When we go out to eat, there are certain dishes that are regarded as gourmet feasts which the average cook does not imagine is within their skill set as a cook. However, some of the most delightful of dishes rely on their simplicity of ingredients and preparation. Shrimp Scampi is one such dish. Even if you can barely boil water, this shrimp Scampi is easily prepared. This traditional Italian dish reflects the overall philosophy of Italian cooks. Use the highest quality, freshest ingredients available and the resulting dish can not help but be delicious. Here’s your chance to impress your friends, family or date! Who said you can’t cook? Our authentic shrimp Scampi recipe says otherwise!
Our shrimp Scampi recipe does call for fresh ingredients, such as fresh shrimp, freshly made pasta and fresh garlic cloves. However, the dish won’t be ruined by substituting frozen shrimp or using packaged, dry pasta. Fresh is better, but your shrimp Scampi will still be delicious if you must substitute. The only essential ingredient which must be fresh is the cilantro. Dried cilantro has an entirely different flavor than fresh, so don’t compromise there. Fresh cilantro is available at almost any supermarket, in bunches much like parsley and is usually located in the same area of the produce section.
This shrimp Scampi recipe is enhanced when you prepare the garlic, butter and cilantro mixture a few hours before serving, as this allows time for the flavors to ‘marry’, giving the finished dish more complexity and piquancy. Continue Reading »
Who doesn’t like a garden salad? Even children, faced with a choice between a hot veggie plate and a garden dinner salad, would opt for the salad. So popular is this little side salad, some of us serve the same old garden salad recipe several days a week. This can lead to dinner boredom. Variety is the spice of life, after all, so before the family starts eyeing that salad with a groan, let’s take a look at ways you can just as quickly put together a salad that’s enticing, tasty and nutritious.
Back in the day, iceberg lettuce was the only game in town. Fortunately, we now have many choices in lettuces at the local supermarket. Iceberg lettuce is nice and crunchy, but is the least nutritious among lettuces. If you serve garden salads often, try a mix of several types of lettuces to keep things interesting, more nutritious and colorful. Along with the Iceberg, toss in some butter lettuce, Romaine, spinach, and a little Mesclun.
The usual garden salad recipe relies on tomatoes, cucumbers and perhaps some croutons. This can be a tasty salad when those tomatoes and cucumbers are in season, but come winter, these veggies become pricey and rather tasteless when trucked hundreds or thousands of miles from warmer climates.
When fall and winter sets in, it’s time to devise some new garden salad recipes from seasonal ingredients. Thinly sliced broccoli florets and julienned carrots make a colorful salad. Add some finely diced onions, grated cheese and some hard-boiled egg slices and you’re in business. During the cold months, canned kidney beans, whole pitted olives, marinated artichoke hearts, garbanzo beans and canned kernel corn provide good looks and a nutrient dense garden salad recipe. Continue Reading »
 Garlic bread is now a beloved side in many American households. We serve it with spaghetti, lasagna, pot roast, with chili and as a nice ‘dipper’ for soups. So popular is this wonderful Italian staple, it’s now available in already prepared loaves in the bakery section, or even in pre-sliced boxed versions in the freezer aisle. Perhaps its popularity is due to increased awareness of the many health benefits of garlic, a heart healthy, blood pressure regulating, cholesterol reducing food, which also has natural antibiotic properties. Or perhaps it’s just so tasty.
Here, we’ve got five garlic bread recipes you can easily make at home: save some money and increase the nutritive value over the commercially prepared products, as well as enjoying more robust flavor. We’ll begin with the usual garlic bread recipe, enhanced with freshly prepared ingredients, with which most of us are familiar, then go on to some delightful variations you’ll surely want to try. Some of these variations are substantial enough to serve as a snack or light lunch.
1. Use a pastry brush to spread a thin coating of olive oil on both sides of a loaf of French bread, cut in half horizontally. Sprinkle evenly with minced garlic and broil, just until browned. Cut in slices and serve warm. Optionally, you can add some grated Cheddar, fresh shaved Parmesan or Asiago cheese for extra flavor before broiling. Continue Reading »
 Traditional spaghetti, with beef or sausage in a tomato-based sauce is a favorite on American menus. Nonetheless, any dish, served too often can lose its appeal with the family. Spaghetti has become a staple of the American diet, as a hearty and filling meal, easy to prepare and a perfect partner for a side of salad and a chunk of garlic bread. If your family no longer looks with favor on this economical dish, it’s time to think outside the box and throw them for a loop, with a most unlikely variation; chicken spaghetti!
Our chicken spaghetti recipe uses the same culinary concepts as traditional spaghetti: meat, veggies, seasonings and sauce, lavished in generous proportions over a plate of noodles. Let’s see just how different this spaghetti recipe is and how you can create this dish and have everyone wondering where in the world you came up with this new concoction, as yet unnamed, but heavenly on the palate, right down to this last bite. This chicken spaghetti still comes with the garden salad and garlic bread sides.
Our chicken based spaghetti is prepared in almost an identical way to traditional spaghetti, the ingredients and seasonings are different, but the finished dish has a similar consistency, but an entirely different flavor. Take a look. Continue Reading »
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