Food and Drink Recipes: 2012

Imaginative Uses Of Flavoured Syrups In Almost Every Recipe

Cocktail recipes require simple flavoured syrups that add to the taste and flavour of your cocktail. You can add your own personal flair to beverages with creative use of syrups.

When you use flavoured syrups for cocktails or coffee and other beverages, make sure you use only the finest quality syrups with carefully chosen ingredients. There are common as well as exotic flavours to choose from for flavouring your drinks.

Caramel flavour is best used with a latte or hot chocolate drink. The light buttery flavour of toasted sugar can have a terrific effect on the olfactory system. Hazelnut is popular and commonly used flavouring syrup. The flavour of roasted hazelnuts is irresistible. When added to a latte, the effect can be truly sensational.

Macadamia offers a creamy flavour when roasted. It can be a great comfort food when added to your cup of coffee. Macadamia is an all time favourite of classic coffee lovers. Irish cream needs no introduction to those who love their coffee made in exotic style and flavour. The syrup offers a hint of whisky and cream flavour and can transform your coffee dramatically when used along with a shot of espresso, milk and cooling with a few cubes of ice. If you like it creamy, head straight to the blender.

Vanilla has a divine flavour and is the classical favourite of all generations. Vanilla flavoured syrup is made from extracts of those lovely looking vanilla beans. Vanilla and coffee? If you have not tried this brilliant combo, you will never know what you are missing.

Vanilla flavour is also an integral part of those delightful and smooth white chocolates. The white chocolate syrup has a clear presence but don't let that deceive you. The flavour is something that will keep lingering on your palate and thoughts long after the drinks are over.

Simple flavoured syrups used in imaginative combinations can bring any staid cocktail or drinks to life. There is no end to the permutations and combinations you can try with flavoured syrups. You can use the various flavours to spruce up your cocktails, coffee and drinks to make your beverages look and taste different and interesting.

Flavoured syrups can also put a twist on cool summer drinks. Syrups can also work wonderfully well for iced tea or your favourite summer drink. It can also be used to flavour some alcoholic beverages and cocktails. There are many recipes available online which can be used as a guide to help you know more about flavoured syrups.

Essential Reads for Men: 'The Food and Beer Cook Book' by Richard Fox

With the exception of such staples as curry, steak and ale pie or, god forbid, the doner kebab, beer and fine cuisine have tended to have a difficult relationship. Despite the arrival of microbrews and fruit beers, grain remains very much grape's poor relation, with few top restaurants boasting of their beer list.

Now, however, grain has found its champion in Maxim 'Beer Chef' Richard Fox. The Food and Beer Cook Book is an unashamedly unpretentious collection of recipes and informative titbits designed to convince us that beer deserves a place in every kitchen, above and beyond that of chef's lubricant.

Fox's love of beer emerges from the start, guiding us energetically through the various types, matching beers to meals and even giving a quick rundown on beer tasting. Throughout, it's clear that his recipes are as much about celebrating the beverage in all its forms as they are about the food itself.

As Fox himself says, 'cooking at home is more about the event...than about fancy food', and that's reflected in his choice of dishes. Many are established favourites such as the club sandwich, Welsh rarebit and eggs Benedict, while every recipe uses beer either for flavour or to simplify preparation.

Fox assumes that his reader will have all the culinary aptitude of the stereotypical male, keeping recipes simple to the point of brutality and focusing on ingredients and flavours rather than technique. The club sandwich is made with pigeon and caramelised onions -- 'top tasting, beer soaking, footie friendly fodder of the highest order' -- while canapés include mini Yorkshire puddings with venison and raspberry beer sauce, with a side order of idiot-proof instructions.

The Food and Beer Cook Book includes suggestions for both formal and informal occasions, ranging from a romantic dinner à deux to supplies for TV marathons. Ladies horrified by the idea of confronting one of Fox's creations at their next candlelit rendezvous can take comfort in dishes such as fruit salad with strawberry beer crème fraiche, and inside-out hot dogs with BBQ sauce look likely to keep plainer appetites topped up.

As you've probably guessed, this isn't a book for the aspiring Gordon Ramsay. For those more Can't Cook, Won't Cook than Masterchef, however, it may prove just the thing to remove that kitchen phobia. Cheers!

**The Food and Beer Cook Book is published by Sentinel Press**

Non Alcoholic Drink Recipes for a Baby Shower

In special occasions like weddings, birthdays and baby showers where you have invited your closest friends and relatives to come over and celebrate the moment with you, serving drinks is a basic rule. Since food and other treats are expected to be present, drinks should never be left out. And since it is a family occasion, non-alcoholic drinks are usually more appropriate.

Drinks are as important as the dishes you want to be served on special occasions such as a baby shower. Hence, it is vital to have at least a few non alcoholic drink recipes at hand for you to use for the event. Listed below are just some of the many options you may want to use for your baby shower:

Lime Rickey:
1 large lime juice
Sugar
Club soda

For this recipe, mix lime juice with a teaspoonful of sugar in a glass and stir well. Add at least two ice cubes and club soda then stir again. An optional garnish of lime slices will make the drink look attractive.

Pineapple Daisy:
8 parts pineapple juice
1 part grenadine
2 parts lemon juice

Mix the ingredients altogether. You can either stir it or shake it. After mixing, pour into the glass and add fresh pineapple and strawberries as decorations.

Spicy Coffee Cooler:
Cinnamon
1 cup heavy whipped cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Ground coffee
15 whole cloves
7 cups cold water

Mix the cloves, cinnamon and coffee with water and then brew. Add powdered sugar to the brewed mixture after straining. Fill half of the glass with crushed ice and then pour the brewed mixture. Add a touch of sweetened cream on the top.

Raspberry Mint Crush:
2 cups lime juice
1 cup red raspberries
2 cups sugar
A bunch of mint
2 cups boiling water

Mix the sugar into the water and let it chill. After a while, add crushed mint and lime juice into the mixture and let it chill again in the refrigerator for another 2 to 3 hours. Strain the mixture and pour it over a glass with cracked ice and garnish it with mint leaves.

Planters Punch:
3 quarts ginger ale
2 cups grenadine
2 cups lemon juice
2 cups orange juice
Sliced strawberries and pineapple
Mint leaves

Mix all the juices along with grenadine and let it chill for about 12 hours or overnight. Add ginger ale over the chilled mixture before serving. Garnish the drink with slices of strawberry and pineapple.

The recipes mentioned above can still be added with other ingredients to add more taste and flavoring. The secret also comes on how you present these drinks to your guests by way of the garnishes that you use. You should also know how to make further experiments on the drinks to be able to come up with a revised version of the drink recipes mentioned above. To do this, the testing phase should be done at least a few days before the exact day of the baby shower to allow certain adjustments if there are any.

Drinks Recipes For Springtime

Would you like to have some drinks recipes for for some special occasion? For a springtime drink, that gives you a boost of fruity goodness check out Spring fever or tries a delicious peach and strawberry burst smoothie sure to brighten any day.

Spring Fever

For Spring fever, you will need the following ingredients

Ingredients

- 3/4 oz lemon juice

- 3/4 oz mango syrup

- 1 1/2 oz apple juice

- 2 oz blood orange juice

Directions

Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice or into a sealable cup if you do not have a cocktail shaker. Shake well and then strain into a glass with some crushed ice.

Mango syrup

Love mango? Here's a recipe for you:

Ingredients

1 cup fruit

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

Directions

Combine fruit, sugar and water and cook until thick smashing the fruit while cooking
For a thinner consistence strain and for thicker syrup process the cooked syrup using a food processor.

Peach and Strawberry Burst Smoothie

A smoothie is a blended, chilled, sweet beverage made from fresh fruit which is blended with crushed ice or frozen yogurt. They do taste like milkshake but unlike milkshakes, they do not usually contain milk or ice-cream. Smoothies are a favorite drinks to people who are health-conscious.

Ingredients

1 fresh peach

1 handful of strawberries (approx 7)

1 small glass of orange juice

4 ice cubes

Ingredients

Wash the strawberries and chop them in half. Peel the peach, take out the stone and chop it into about eight. Put the orange juice, peach and strawberries into a blender and blend until there are only small lumps. Now add the ice cubes and blend until the mixture has no lumps. Now put into a glass with two straws and enjoy!

Finally, summer time would not be summer without lemonade here is a great recipe for an old summer time favorite.

Lemonade

Lemonade is a drink enjoyed year round, but mainly during the summer time. The ingredients typically consist of lemon juice, water and sugar. Depending on your taste, the lemonade can be very concentrated or diluted. The drink can be made from fresh lemons, frozen concentrate, or powdered mixes. For this recipe, we will just use lemon juice.

Ingredients

Starting proportions should be a 1 to 1 ratio.

1-cup sugar

1-cup water

1 cup lemon juice.

This proportion can be really sweet so reduce the sugar to taste.

Make sugar syrup by dissolving the sugar into hot water. This keeps the sugar in the lemonade instead of in the bottom of the container.

Heat sugar and water in a saucepan until sugar is dissolved then add lemon juice. Take off the heat add to a pitcher and add 4 cups cold water approximately. Refrigerate 30-40 minutes.

Couples Diet - 5 Pointers For Food And Drinks

If you and your partner want to lose weight together, there is nothing better than going on a couples diet. A diet for couples is more effective than each of you going on different diets separately. It gets even worse if you see your partner eat fattening food while you try to lose weight. How would you feel it you were trying to cut down on sweets and then see your partner munching on a chocolate bar in front of you?

You can start a couples diet by planning a menu for two. There are some types of food and drinks that you should get at the grocery or a health food store that will enhance your weight loss plan. Don't presume that diet food is supposed to taste bad. You can still enjoy eating healthy food if you know how to choose what to pick up at the grocery store. Here are tips about food and drinks when going on a couples diet:

1. Water is the healthiest beverage you can drink whether you are on a diet or not. Start your day with a glass of water. Have some too before each meal to decrease your hunger pangs and appetite. Have some more during your meal, and end the night with more water.

2. Switch from flavored and carbonated drinks to fresh fruit juice. Many fizzy drinks like soda, carbonated and flavored water are actually full of sugar which become calories. These are fattening when you take too much of these drinks. Soda can be addictive, so try to cut the soda habit and replacing it with healthier fruit juice.

3. Now that we are talking about fruit juice, it is better to make your own with a juicer or buy commercial fruit juices that don't have any sweeteners or additives. Choose fruits that have a lot of fiber content and vitamins like pineapples or oranges. You can also add some vegetables to your fruit juice like liquefied carrots. Carrots are also able to fight diseases like cancer.

4. Eat a lot of fresh fruits that are high in fiber instead of snacking on potato chips or chocolates. Pineapples, apples, grapes and berries are good choices. Watermelon has a lot of liquid content which is also good. Grapes and berries contain a lot of antioxidants. There are also other kinds of food that are high in fiber like bran cereals, legumes, peas, barley, rye, and soybeans.

5. Vegetables should also be a part of your diet menu. Start with broccoli, carrots, cauliflowers, celery, zucchini and tomatoes. Vegetables will also help you lose weight aside from making you more healthy. Green leafy vegetable are better choices although green salads are also good. When eating salad during a couples diet, get fat-free dressing.

Although you may be eating salad, you may not be conscious that the bacon and dressing in your salad could be fattening. Gravy also uses butter and dairy products than can make you gain weight. Look for a list of foods and drinks for your couples diet and find more recipes that will be healthy but delicious.

Fast Food and Obesity Are Inextricably Linked

If you have been paying any attention at all to the ongoing health care debate, you know a large part of that debate is over what preventative measures can and should be taken by everyone to take responsibility for their personal health and stay out of the doctor's offices and hospital emergency rooms in the first place.

A large part of this prevention debate as centered on the very scary childhood obesity statistics and the undeniable link between eating too much fast food and the rise of obesity rates in children.

What follows here is a pretty eye opening comparison of some fast food nutrition information along with the current USDA recommended daily calorie intake for children of different ages.

This table provides the recommended daily calorie intake for children based on both age and level of physical activity. To the USDA, for a child to qualify as "active" they must be doing an amount of physical exercise equal to walking three miles daily at 3 to 4 miles an hour as well as the light physical activity of daily life.

Boys ages 4-8 and active 2,000; if sedentary 1,400
Girls ages 4-8 and active 1,400; if sedentary 1,000
Boys ages 14-18 and active 3,200; if sedentary 2,200
Girls ages 14-18 and active 2,400; if sedentary 1,800

Now, compare the above table with the following information from a popular fast food chain's nutritional website regarding a meal consisting of a double cheeseburger, medium fries, and a medium drink. Such a meal will put into your child's body:

1, 400 calories
62 grams of fat
186 grams of carbohydrates

Please note that this meal offers the "medium" French fries and drink. If you "supersize" the fries and drink, the totals are even scarier.

When you look at these two sets of numbers and then take into account that our children are getting less physical activity than ever before because of changes in the school curriculum doing away with recess and the amount of time spent in front of computers or television at home, some of the reasons for childhood obesity become very clear.

I do not mean to demonize fast food here, as an every now and then treat there isn't thing wrong with them. The problem with fast food starts when we begin to rely on their menus as an everyday source of meals.

On the positive side of things, there are many studies show that children in households that promote both healthy food choices and sensible diets that do not rely so much on processed foods and the fast food outlets have a much improved chances to maintain these habits throughout their lifetime.

Of course, kids being kids, promoting healthy food choices at home will be much easier if you have something to substitute for the fast food treats and for that I recommend fruit or vegetable smoothies in their many forms as a staple of a healthy diet for years to come.

Healthy smoothies can be made from any number of fresh and/or frozen fruit with very few calories, fat, and carbohydrates. For example, a 16 oz fruit smoothie recipe using strawberries, bananas and low-fat yogurt will come in at around 530 calories, less than 3 grams fat, and 98 grams carbohydrates. Plus, you will have the added benefit of the nutritional value of the fruit in terms of vitamins and dietary fiber that are absent in the fast food meal.

The epidemic of childhood obesity is not going away but we can all help by watching what our children eat and providing them better food choices.

Summer Drink Recipes for Everyone

We have all seen them, either on TV or while setting in a restaurant, those drinks that just look like summer. They have a refreshing, thirst quenching look that makes them very appealing to the eye and most of the ones I have tried have the same appeal to the taste buds. What gives them that summer look and appeal? I believe it is the fresh fruit and green herbs floating in the icy liquid. So what does it take to create those summer drink recipes for your next summer gathering or simple cookout?

An ingredient in many drink recipes is simple syrup. Make your own simple syrup and spice it up with fresh herbs. Just like infusing herbs with oil or vinegar you can infuse them into simple syrup. It is quick and easy to make and your spiced simple syrup cannot only be used in your favorite summer drink recipes but it can also be used to sweeten tea.

Simple syrup recipe (with spice):

2 cups sugar (or baking quality artificial sweetener)
2 cups water
Herb of choice (1 cup Basil or Mint or Lemon Verbena or 3 sprigs Rosemary are only some of the choices)

Tip: Use fewer herbs if you select ones with a more powerful taste, such as Rosemary.

Directions:

Combine the sugar and herbs; use a muddler to crush the herb into the sugar. This releases the oils from the herbs and gives the syrup flavor. In a saucepan, combine the water and sugar/herb mixture, bring to a slow boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Allow the syrup to cool and then strain. Your simple syrup can now be refrigerated and kept for about a month.

Most summer drink recipes can be made with or without alcohol so the recipes can be used to satisfy all your guests. The classic recipes for several of the drinks call for alcohol but I have tried many of them without and they are still very tasty. Have you ever tried a non-alcoholic Mojito? It is really just sparkling mint limeade and is quite tasty. You can adjust any of the recipes by not adding or omitting the alcohol.

Basil Lemonade:

2 cups lemon juice (approx. 15 lemons if squeezing fresh)
2 cups Basil Simple Syrup
Water or sparkling water to taste (start with 2 cups and add more if needed)

Directions:

Combine ingredients and refrigerate. Serve over ice and garnish with basil leaves and lemon twist.

Mojito:

6 tablespoons lime juice (approx. 1 lime if squeezing fresh)
8 large mint leaves
4 Tablespoons sugar
2-3 ounce of light rum
Club soda

Directions:

In a glass, combine the mint leaves, sugar and lime juice with a muddler. (Mint simple syrup can be used in place of the sugar and mint leaves-start with 4 Tablespoons and add more until desired sweetness.) Add ice, rum, club soda and garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Tip: Change up your mojitos by adding fruit. Combine a fresh fruit puree (strawberries, melon, etc.) by using a food processor to reduce the fruit to pulp, strain out any of larger pieces of fruit that remain. Mix the fruit puree in with the other ingredients prior to adding the club soda.

Herb Soda:

3-4 Tablespoons Simple Syrup infused with your choice of herb (see recipe)
Fresh herbs leaves or sprigs for garnish
Splash of lemon juice
Sparkling water or club soda

Directions:

Fill glasses with ice; add lemon juice, simple syrup and club soda (or sparkling water) and stir. Add fresh herbs for garnish.

So now you know what to do to wow your guests with attractive and tasty summer drink recipes. Get creative and create some of your very own by combining some of these recipes and tips with some of your own.

3 Tips on Diet Foods and Recipes

Have you ever subscribed to the best food weight loss publications and have almost rented all the books which contained diet foods and recipes and have visited the markets in the hope of getting the best diet foods and recipes. Shopping for the foods may take more time because you have to carefully go over all the foodstuff tags. Even if you are a nourishment weight loss specialist, you cannot be positive that you are consuming the right material?

Specialists have exposed tips on diet foods and recipes sins and how you can keep away from them.. These tips are described as follows:

Tip #1: Don't take for granted that what you consume and drink is good and sufficient.

People have a tendency to think and act on what they study. For example, just for the reason that a label said something actually fit, does not precisely mean that it includes the nutrients you necessitate. Looking further than what the diet foods and recipes may contain is really what should be your main concern. Eating foodstuffs that have undergone processing, can not take the place of new veggies that you make ready yourself. There are certain ingredients that are wasted for the duration of the processing. Fruit juices are not as good as consuming entire fruits. Even if they declare to be 100% untouched, these juices do not include as much ingredients as fresh fruits do.

Tip #2: Over-eating and Under-eating is a bad habit.

These are two different situations in diet foods and recipes weight loss plans. Even if they are very much opposing to one another, they are very much associated. Consuming large amount of food even if you have adhered to all the low-fat and low-carbohydrates diets may still not be a good weight loss application for you. Not eating adequate food will also result in weight increase because it will manipulate your insulin levels encouraging storage of fats by your system. Hence, it is highly recommended that instead of putting much stress on diet foods and recipes, one should eats about 5-6 light servings of food a day instead of eating 3 large ones.

Tip #3: Several supplements should only be used after advice of a doctor

Vitamins are add-on and we call them supplements. They can be an element of your diet foods and recipes weight loss plan but should not be taken in very excess quantity. The supplements are needed if you don't get nourishment from the foods. These should be approved by a doctor and should not be requested from just about anybody which includes the sales person in the neighboring pharmacy.

Proper diet foods and recipes have been in constant public interest all these years. A lot of negligence has been made by quite a few people due to the shortage of proper advices from genuine experts. This can now be easily concluded that weight loss program is not identical for everybody. What is suitable for you may not be good for your mother. Moral of the story, recommendation of dependable health experts should be your first footstep in finding the best diet foods and recipes.

Healthy Breakfast Recipes, Snack And Desert Recipes

Eating a well balanced meal.

Healthy breakfast recipes snack and desert recipes are a step in the right direction but not if you do it just once a week, You've probably heard people say.. eat your breakfast, it's the most important meal of the day. Well, they're right, Breakfast provides your body with energy after an 8 to 10 hour period of fasting. While you don't expend many exercise calories while you sleep, your body still uses a lot of energy for it's metabolic functions.

Skipping breakfast is like forgetting to put gas in a car when the gauge reads empty. Although you may not cease to function you may feel terrible and have very little pep. If you enjoy healthy breakfast recipes snack and desert recipes, it gives you the time to eat those time release energy capsules and complex carbohydrates.

Three meals a day is traditional in America, however many nutritionists believe this is not the best way to eat. They note that three meals a day give people most of their energy in three bursts. Between these bursts people lack energy to compensate for feeling tired, someone might eat a candy bar or some cookies between meals, as this provides an energy boost but also increases ones calories and over time ones weight.

These nutritionists suggest we become grazers instead of eating three large meals daily, consume small amounts throughout the day. This may not be possible during the school year, but mid morning and after school snacks are not a bad idea. Make the energy from those healthy breakfast recipes snack and desert recipes last by avoiding simple sugars and the yo-yo effect.

The Yo-Yo Effect.

Simple carbohydrates are found in refined foods, such as white flour or granulated sugar, as well as in fructose the sugar found in fruits and honey. They also provide energy. Eating too many simple carbohydrates, however, may lead to major problems in the body. They cause a rapid rise in blood-sugar levels, which stimulates special cells in the pancreas to secrete large amounts of insulin, which is needed to enable the body to use glucose effectively.

Without healthy breakfast recipes snack and desert recipes.. too much insulin is secreted which causes a rapid fall in blood glucose levels. This can result in the loss of pep and energy or even faintness. If you eat a candy bar to give yourself more pep, your blood sugar again skyrockets, your pancreas kicks out more insulin, your blood sugar falls, and, after a short while you crash again. This yo-yo effect is very common in kids today because of the amount of simple carbohydrates they consume in Junk food and soft drinks.

Fat is Needed for Good Health.

Good healthy breakfast recipes snack and desert recipes and fats are very important to our diet. They are necessary for the production of many hormones in our bodies, and to absorb fat soluble vitamins and build nerve tissue. Because fats contain twice as many calories per gram as carbohydrates, or proteins diets high in fat may lead to slight problems. Today Americans get about 35 percent of their daily calories from fat. Most nutritionists believe this is too much and kids are not exempt from this fat frenzy.. Junk food is loaded With it.

A Diet Including Low Calorie and Vegetarian Recipes Has Many Benefits

If you are truly interested and committed then try switching over gradually. Don't try to quit cold turkey (no pun intended). Try eliminating one type of meat at a time. Then you will gradually be able to eliminate all the meat from your diet.

Over this time period introduce and increase the number of Vegetarian meals that you consume. You can find some incredible vegetarian cookbooks online and at your local bookstore that are filled with delicious recipes.

Just remember to start slow and take your time. To give you a little push here are some incredible benefits of a vegetarian diet as compared to an orthodox diet.

The Benefits of a Vegetarian Lifestyle

Vegetarian diets, when well chosen, are linked to a reduction in the incidence of chronic diseases. And they are more conducive to better health than your average, orthodox diet.

Chronic Diseases and Vegetarian Diets:

1. Obesity. Among vegetarians there is less obesity. Vegetarians consume more fiber-rich bulky foods so fewer calories are consumed.

2. High Blood Pressure. Vegetarian lifestyle is void of smoking and drinking alcohol. This in combination with regular exercise decreases blood pressure. Also, a vegetarian diet that is low in fat, saturated fats, high in fiber, fruits, and vegetables may also contribute to lowered blood pressure.

3. Heart Disease. Vegetarian diets call for fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and soybeans as a replacement for meat (which is much higher in saturated fats and much lower in fiber, antioxidants). This contributes to a healthy heart. High fiber also helps the digestive tract.

4. Cancer. Meats and other foods not consumed in a vegetarian diet can produce carcinogens which can lead to Cancer.

There are many other benefits to a vegetarian lifestyle:

1. It's humane as it saves animals from being slaughtered for food.

2. Saves money (as meat is expensive)

Less demanding on the environment

Vitamix Juicing: My Favorite Green Drink Recipe for Natural Energy

There is a revolution among us with regard to eating healthy, juicing, and just becoming more health conscious about the food choices we make for ourselves and our families. It is no coincidence that green drinks are becoming more and more popular. Where else can you get all those nutrients and raw energy without the negative side effects of processed sugar? Do you really eat your veggies like mom told you to when you were a child?

Here's one of my favorite recipes that you can drink in the morning when you first get out of bed for a shot of quick energy. You can make it today and drink all of it over the next couple of mornings if you want. If you can manage it, best results will come from organic produce due to the avoidance of pesticides found in non-organic foods. If non-organics is the best you can do that will be okay, but be sure to peel the fruit that has peels such as apples, to get the best quality possible.

Green Smoothie Recipe for Breakfast

Here are some ingredients you will need:

2 cups of green mix (example: ½ cup spinach, 1 cup broccoli, ½ cup Brussels sprouts

2-5 ice cubes

1 liter of water

½ oz protein powder (rice protein, vegetable protein, or whey protein)

3 Table Spoons of flax seeds

2 small apples

2 bananas

2 cups of berries

Simply chop everything up into pieces and insert ingredients into your Vitamix blender. This will make about 2 ½ Liters of Raw energy drink for your health. The best times to drink this are

Upon Awakening, and
Following Workout or Exercise Session

If you drink too much all the time you can end up taking in too many calories, so try to drink these calorie drinks during one of the above times. Of course, you can also drink it for lunch, if you take it as a meal replacement rather than adding it to your regular lunch. If that's the case, you might be overdoing the calories.

For many people, green drinks are the first time in their lives when they take in raw fruits and vegetables without flinching. If you are one of these people, congratulations and welcome to your new healthy and more energized lifestyle. Be sure to experiment with different combinations of green vegetables and fruits. You actually can add in any color you crave, but greens make a great foundation for a drink.

As a final tip, be sure you use a blender that can handle this type of action. Blendtec and Vitamix blenders are some of the most powerful blenders in the world and are the best for juicing your drinks.

All About Drinks Recipes

It does not matter what the occasion is, every person deserves a better drink, and the best way to make a drink better is to follow drinks recipes so that every drink comes out tasting consistently good.

Contrary to most popular opinion, drink recipes do not have to involve alcohol, and there are drink recipes for drinks to be had at any hour of the day. One need not follow tradition to enjoy a tasty drink, as a matter of fact the inverse is more often true: quality drinks take a little preparation and diversity.

Switching it up: Why make a regular cup of coffee, when anyone can consult a specialty coffee drink recipe, and make themselves something different and delicious, without having to worry about sacrificing quality?

It is often hard for the human ego to follow directions they did not invent themselves, but if a person can put the final product ahead of their personal pride, then following a drinks recipe is the only solution for making every drink a better tasting and therefore better experience for the consumer.

Many people think that a great drink involves too much time or effort, but the truth of the matter is that making a drink a little more special usually only involves one or two extra steps, and these steps are quite often something as easy to do as altering the temperature or infusing a common drink with something a little different, like fresh fruit.

The majority of drink recipes are for libations that involve alcohol, but the good news is that some of these drinks sound a lot more difficult and tedious to make than they really are.

The most important step is to follow instructions. Straying from the carefully laid out plans for a delicious beverage is a waste of time, and a dangerous game to play. To be consistent, one must follow directions with consistency.

And after a few trials, it will become easy to make the drink without consulting the original recipe at every stage of preparation. This is why it does not make sense to waste a ton of time energy trying to be creative, when someone else has already done all this hard work, and now a delicious and easy to follow plan has been developed.

Ultimately, anyone with a refined taste will agree when subjected to a regular drink and then a specialty drink made from a recipe that the latter is better than the former. And this is for the same reason that people put dressings on salad and morsels of food in their soup, the human taste buds enjoy diversity, and this applies to drinking, and not only eating.

High Alkaline Food Recipes - What You Want to Know About It and Some Recipes to Enjoy

Everything is in constant change including the types of foods that we eat. Food chains and packaged foods helped a lot especially with this fast pacing world. But how much do you know about these foods? Do they contain synthetic elements in it?

These alkaline food recipes mainly involve fruits and veggies. These foods contain enzymes and minerals to offset the acidic foods that we eat everyday. These acidic foods are the foods from fast foods, packaged and microwavable foods.

One important thing to neutralize these acids is to have high level of alkaline in the body. There are alkaline food recipes that can help you build the alkalinity level in your body. These alkaline recipes will help you keep your pH level balanced and keeps your body from diseases. The main purpose of these high alkaline recipes is for you to eat vast amount of veggies and fruits than oil and fat rich foods like meat. To help you boost your alkaline level, try these high alkaline recipes.

Gluten free pumpkin bread is one. Just bake a whole pumpkin until it's soft. Let it cool then peel and mash. Add 300g of gluten free flour, 2 tsp. baking powder and 1 tsp. Italian seasoning. Knead and gradually add water until smooth. Divide into regular size cakes and bake for 30-45 minutes, let it cool and serve. This is a really healthy recipe and tastes fabulous, too!

Another great recipe is the combination of grape fruits and lemons. Just squeeze 2 grape fruits and 4 lemons. Add water, 2 tbsp. of UDO's choice and acidophilus plus a little of ginger and garlic juice. Mix and drink! This is a refreshing drink and you will enjoy drinking it while having the benefits of a high alkaline recipe.

Alkaline food recipes do not end there! Take 2 cups of water, 2 beetroots, 2 carrots, 2 celery tops, 1 zucchini, 3 cups stock of celery and 2 cups of red potatoes. Put everything on a pot, bring to a boil and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Strain and discard the veggies. Now you have a very high alkaline broth!

Miso is one food that is very high in alkaline content. To enjoy the benefit of this miso, you can have a miso soup. To do this, take 2 tsp. of miso and put it in an amount of water. Bring to a boil, add some iodize salt and pepper to taste. This is a simple recipe but with a vast benefit of alkaline. This is good for cold winter days.

Do you love salad? Here is one salad that is really rich in alkaline, the green salad. Take some chopped cabbage, salad leaves, chopped onion and a large tomato. Mix and add a little vinegar to taste. Toss in some boiled chicken or tofu and oregano. This has a little meat included, enough to keep your energy level all throughout the day.

You can find more high alkaline recipes on cookbooks, ebooks and on the internet. All you need to do is spend time searching and browsing the internet for some. Start doing this right now and you will see great results in your health!

Christmas Drink Recipe Ideas

Want some new Christmas Drink Recipes to impress your holiday guests this year? Why not introduce a new tradition into your annual holiday party. There are lots of different drink recipes you can incorporate into your holiday party, so be a little different this Christmas and give your family and friends a special treat!

Wassail

Let's start our drink recipe tour in Jolly Old England with something called Wassail. It's a tasty Christmas party drink made with apple cider and a combination of some spices. Mix it together, heat it up and if you want to add a "little kick" to it, really spice it up with a little brandy. It has a great aroma and tastes even better!

Glühwein (Hot Mulled Wine)

Next on our Christmas drink recipe search let's see what Germany has to offer. A warm wine drink is what we will find here. It's called Glühwein (Hot Mulled Wine) and like Wassail it tastes and smells great.

Who would have thought that you could that you not only make a fun, delicious new drink, but also give your house a cheerful, delicious holiday aroma that will warm the hearts of your guests as well. Imagine your fragrant house filled with friends and family sampling your new holiday recipe ideas...It's going to be a great holiday season!

Cafe Mexican

The next Christmas drink idea is from our neighbors to the south...Mexico! Everyone loves a hot cup of Joe after dinner, but you can make that ordinary cup of coffee a gourmet delight with a recipe for Cafe Mexico! A combination of spices and a dollop of whipped cream will turn your after dinner coffee into a dessert! You can add some Kahlua coffee liqueur, or you can serve the non-alcoholic version.

American Eggnog

Finally, we have the old American holiday drink recipe...Eggnog. This is a drink you're probably familiar with. It's a holiday standard in my house but we like to add a little brandy or triple sec to give it a little vigor! This traditional holiday drink warms you from the inside out on a cold winters' night.

Add Some Spice To Your Christmas Drink Recipes

There are so many new and unique tastes from all over the world to help you add a "little something Extra" to your holiday party ideas this year. Holiday drink recipes and food recipes can turn your holidays into a gourmet feast, so try some new ideas this year.

Stay Healthy With Green Drink Recipes

Most diets you come across claiming to help you lose weight, fight fatigue and lower your blood pH will inevitably have you removing food from your diet. This is what people typically think of when starting a new diet and to be honest, it's what scares most people away. We hate not being able to eat the foods we love! Well, I'm sick of doing things the hard way and you should be too.

This approach has you adding things to your diet instead of taking away and will leave you healthier than ever. By utilizing green drink recipes, we can easily do this. Adding a healthy green smoothie or drink to your diet will have a profound impact on how you structure your meals. This is how it works:

Add a green drink or smoothie to at least one meal a day (breakfast is probably the best choice).
Drink it before you eat the rest of your meal.

What does this do?

Since green drinks and smoothies consist of very pure, nutritious ingredients like leafy greens, fresh fruit and fresh vegetable or fruit juices, this is a fantastic way to consume all your necessary vitamins and minerals without having to resort to a multivitamin.

It also allows you to eat less "junk food" because your stomach will be satiated from the nutritious green drink and you won't have enough room for a giant meal afterwards. This is great for people who have a problem with overeating.

How will this help you lose weight? Simple, you're eating less junk food and more low calorie nutritious food.

How will this help you fight fatigue? By adding a fresh green drink to your diet, your body is getting all the vitamins and minerals it needs to operate at full capacity.

How will this lower your blood pH? Green leafy vegetables are extremely alkaline and eating alkaline foods will lower your blood pH which helps remedy all sorts of dis-eases.

Soon, your body will start to crave food that is of higher nutritious quality and because of that, you will naturally start to eat better, lose weight, and be healthier overall.

Here's a recipe you can try out:

6 strawberries

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1 apple

1 stalk of celery

1 peach

1 handful of red grapes

1 handful of fresh spinach

1 banana

1 cup water

Just toss everything into a blender and blend until your desired consistency. Enjoy!

Food and Mood, What's the Link?

I am firmly of the belief that every item of food or drink we consume has a biochemical effect on us, some negative and some of course positive. Furthermore it could be said that along with all the conventional methods of grouping foods that we could use the following:

Nutrient, stimulant and empty calories, let me explain group by group.

Nutrients are natural food stuffs that are not processed or altered from their original state by modern food industry practise. This means their natural chemical compounds and nutrients are left intact and are able to feed the body and have positive biochemical effects. This group includes all fresh fruits and vegetables and other natural foods nuts, seeds, beans, greens, oats, brown rice and all those other items that look the same served up as they do growing wild. This group is called Nutrients because they offer all the life giving power of natural foods whose positive effects are still to be fully understood.

Stimulants these are the temporary boost foods, usually high in sugar, caffeine or other artificial stimulants that give temporary energy followed by a low or crash as their active ingredients rapidly pass through the blood stream and are processed by the body. So tea, coffee, stimulant drinks, sugar rich foods and drinks. This group is probably the most harmful to the wellbeing of the mind and body and also can be dangerously addictive as the boost delivered is desirable and may be repeated with another dose! Stimulants are exactly that, nutritionally pretty void, they boost the body in an artificial short term way instead of fuelling the body with the nutrients it needs. Talk to someone in a coffee bar, and you'll see what I mean! Addiction to stimulants is a real danger as resistance is developed and more and greater doses are required for the same heady effect! Avoid this group and your reward will be better energy levels and a more stable and genuine mood, with greater resistance to temptation! Check out the ingredient panel of food packaging, manufacturers have to list ingredients in order of volume in the product, if sugar is in the top 4 leave it out of your shopping trolley. Isn't it crazy that most breakfast cereals have a huge amount of sugar in? Stuff a load of sugar down first thing and you'll be on a sugar craving roller coaster all day.

Empty calories, this is the U.F.O. food group, Unidentified Food Objects, you know the score, funny looking and smelling things that resemble nothing in its natural state! Generally they are cheap and certainly in the "junk" category. As we all know cheap isn't necessarily a good thing. Cheap batteries in your walkie talkie on a jungle trip could be a bad thing! Cheap food during your lifetime will definitely have a negative effect. These empty calories can have an extraordinary effect as they are calorie rich, high in sugar and other addictive ingredients BUT nutritionally poor, leading to over eating as the body craves nutrients and gets addicted to the sugar boost. It's impressive that a junk food addict can be at once obese AND malnourished, a testimony to the emptiness of the calories in this food group!

I hope this simple look at foods makes you keen to explore the nutrient group as stay clear of the other two, I certainly ask myself as I select things for my shopping trolley, is this nutrient, stimulant or empty calorie.

A lot of my food consumption is through my juicer and blender as I like to keep things fresh and natural, try here for some fresh and natural recipes.

Save Money on Food and Drinks

The weekly grocery shopping bill is many people's biggest expense after housing. While it's difficult to save money on mortgages and rents there are plenty of savings to be made by being careful with food and drink expenditure.

Plan a weeks worth of meals, create a list of ingredients and only purchase these items. By sticking to this no food will go to waste and you will be less tempted to purchase extra goodies. When you are in the supermarket where possible try to purchase "own brand" items. You'll find them much cheaper than leading brands and often the product tastes very similar if not exactly the same.

When you visit your supermarket don't go in hungry. Research suggests that you will spend around 20% more when you food shop hungry as opposed to shopping after a meal.

Buy in bulk. Markets and greengrocers will give good deals on produce if you buy in larger quantities. Supermarkets often have BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) offers. Take advantage of these: freeze the extra items for use in the future. Grow your own, find an allotment or convert part of your garden into a veg patch. You'll be surprised by the savings and how good home-grown produce tastes.

Shop around - don't just stick with one shop play the supermarkets against each other. Special offers tend to move from one chain to the next so use price comparison sites to find the best deals before you set off shopping. Buy local. By supporting your local farmers market more money makes its way back to the local economy. Check out old Christmas gifts - there may be food hampers that you have forgotten about full of luxury food and drinks

Try to cook just what you planned for in your recipe, this way you'll only use the ingredients you've bought and not extras. Don't cook too large a portion, when cooking pasta and rice use a mug to measure out the amount needed. Consider taking a packed lunch to work, cook up a bit more of an evening put it in Tupperware and freeze them.

Once you've finished cooking, use up the leftovers. The end of a chicken, cut offs of vegetables can be turned into stock or a tasty homemade soup. Don't buy bottled water or soft drinks. Drink tap water! A water filter will do wonders if your tap water isn't too nice or just leave a glass of tap water in a window for around 30 minutes for the chlorine taste to go away.

Whet Your Appetite During the Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight

If you love Scottish food you're sure to not want to miss a two-week event taking place in Scotland in September.

Plan a stay at your large holiday house in the region to make the most of the Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight, which champions local produce to protect the nation's culinary heritage and help safeguard the future of workers such as farmers and fishermen.

The event celebrates local fare across restaurants and shops while also encouraging healthy eating. It runs between September 4th and 19th and could provide an excellent opportunity to catch up with friends and rent a castle in Scotland to spend some time together.

Both big brand and local artisan businesses are invited to take part, showcasing their wares alongside window displays and offering samples of produce to passers-by or drawing people in with banners and signs.

Restaurants in the nation will be developing special Scottish-themed menus over the two-week period and some may be running competitions for consumers to create their own Scottish recipes, with the winner chosen to be made into a dish at the eateries.

Some will be holding cookery courses with local chefs to highlight how you can recreate the best traditional dishes back at your Scottish holiday home, making the most of local ingredients.

Recipes concocted by big names in the local industry for the festival include marbled roulade of chicken, goats cheese, roast red pepper and basil, served with warm tomato relish, rocket and parmesan salad and pesto dressing, as invented by Willie Pike of the Federation of Master Chefs Scotland.

Contests are set to run throughout the event, such as the Mini Masterchef, which was held in 2009 for youngsters aged from eight to 14 when it was won by an eight-year-old girl.

Meanwhile, if you're staying in a far-flung Scottish holiday home, you may find you have access to a range of food-related films in rural areas, as the event organisers have teamed up with cinema access provider Regional Screen Scotland to put on shows in remote location in conjunction with local food producers.

However you choose to spend your fortnight, you're sure to get a taste for Scotland at the Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight.

Food Elements - Learn About the Nutritional Elements of Food and Healthy Eating

The purpose of consuming food is to ensure good health and wellness, and therefore, healthy eating is an essential aspect of eating every day. The requirement of food over the years changes over time, with respect to the stage of life that you are in. So while a child requires food to grow and develop, adults need it more for the energy required to function daily. In addition to that, food is also required so as to repair the various parts of the body that are worn away, or those that have had to be discarded due to wear and tear.

We tend to use various parts of our bodies with everything that we do, be it breathing, thinking, moving, playing or working on the computer. This means that we need to be able to continuously replenish our body with a variety of elements that are present in food and drink.

The various elements of food that exist, their characteristics, the manner in which they can be used, and the right way in which specific foods should be combined to obtain maximum benefits are given below:

The Food Elements

Healthy eating is possible only when you ensure that your body is getting the right food elements in the right quantity that it requires. Therefore, it is essential to know about the food nutrition to be able to make sure that you are consuming everything. Some of the food elements that you should be aware of include starch, sugar, albumen, fats, minerals, and indigestible ingredients.

These are often clubbed together to form the basic classes including carbonaceous, nitrogenous, and inorganic. While all the starches, fats and sugars fall under the carbonaceous category, the albumen is considered to be nitrogenous. All inorganic substances include all the minerals that we need for the body. It should be noted that all healthy recipes or menus should ensure that all the various categories of food are finely balanced in a meal.

Carbonaceous - All starches, sugars and fats are covered under this category. Starch can be found in grains, most vegetables, and also in some fruits. Sugars are available in the form of cane, grape, other fruit sugars, and milk sugar (a constituent of milk).There are also some sugars that are made in the laboratory.

Glucose, for example, is an artificial sugar that is similar to grape juice. It is made from potato or corn starch in a chemical process. However, it is not as sweet as the natural sweeteners that nature provides. Fats can be found in vegetables and animal food too. Butter and suet are examples of animal fat, but you can also find fat in plant sources like nuts, beans and some fruits like olives too.

While fat is commonly used as a free element (as in butter) and we use it in many not-so-healthy recipes in abundance, not only is free fat difficult to consume, but it also interferes with the digestion of other foods.

Nitrogenous - Albumen in its purest form can be found in the white of an egg. The entire white of an egg is nothing but pure albumen. You can also find albumen in other animals and vegetable foods as in the case of oatmeal. Gluten closely resembles albumen and is also a nitrogenous element. It is found in rye, barley and wheat. Casein is also a part of this class of food elements and can be found in peas and beans.

Inorganic - Almost all the foods we consume have a certain proportion of inorganic and mineral matter. Grains and milk have a large proportion of the minerals that we need on a daily basis.

Indigestible substances - These are foods that are not digestible by the body and are therefore only meant to provide bulk to the food that we eat. Bran and fibrous tissues in the body are examples of indigestible foods.

Food Element Uses

Most of the food that we eat is carbonaceous in nature. This is something that has been proven after studying the daily eating habits of various cultures. The carbonaceous food element allows our body to produce heat, and in conjunction with other food elements, allows us to be able to use force and strength. Carbonaceous food elements also help the body replace the fatty tissue that gets used up in the process of fat burning.

While fats produce the highest amount of heat among the carbonaceous food elements, it should be remembered that these are most difficult to digest and can therefore lead to various health issues. Healthy eating deems that only the recommended proportion of fat should be included in meals on a daily basis.

The nitrogenous nutritional elements help in keeping the brain, nerves, and muscles healthy and fit. These are the food elements that ensure that you remain healthy in all respects including mental health. All healthy recipes should include a decent proportion of nitrogenous food elements to ensure that the stimulus to tissue change is provided to the body at all times, thus keeping all tissues fighting fit.

The most commonly required inorganic elements are phosphates. These provide the building blocks for bones and nerves and are therefore critical for good bone health.

Combination of Food Elements

There is a saying that 'too much of everything is bad', and this applies to food as well. While all food elements are required by the body, it is necessary that each of the food elements be consumed in a specific proportion to ensure healthy eating and healthy living. If you want to learn how to cook healthy recipes, you need to know which of the food elements are required by the body and in what quantity.

For one, the daily intake of the body should ensure 6 carbonaceous food elements to 1 nitrogenous food element. It has also been noticed that this one-sixth of nitrogenous food elements can be used up to 3 ounces in a span of 24 hours.

So if you want to ensure that you are making healthy recipes for your family, you need to make use of this scientific knowledge about nutritional element to ensure that your family stays healthy and fit.

10 Holiday Ideas For Enjoying Food and Drink

Although human beings do not necessarily live to eat, they certainly have developed a fine sense of taste. Food and drink is such an essential component of one's existence that it is quite unsurprising that tourism has now included it as a concept. Here are ten destinations in the world that are known for holidays where one can enjoy food and drink.

1. Corsica - Holidaying in Corsica has a large ingredient of enjoying the hearty food native to the region. The wild boar stews, among other typical dishes, are made according to traditional recipes. Chestnuts are native to the land and Olive oil production is big; the wildflower honey that is harvested there is among the best in the world.

2. Cyprus - Cyprus prefers to stick to their locally grown produce for their cuisine. Exotic fruit like kiwi, olives, citrus fruit, and figs grow in abundance here. Sample the carob that grows liberally in the region, and some of the delicious sweets. There is soutzoukos which is a sweet grape paste containing lots of nuts, stafidakia which are sun-dried raisins, and hiromeri, smoked pork leg.

3. Napoli - On a food holiday in Napoli, have breakfast like a local - a shot of espresso as an accompaniment to a cornetto pastry. Lunch for most working individuals is a takeaway pizza wrapped in paper. Fritters with seaweed are popular munchies in the Neapolitan day. The buffalo mozzarella cheese is unrivalled.

4. Spain - Spain is known for its exquisite and unique dishes, its spicy and delightful cuisine is a favourite with food lovers all over the globe. Spanish wines accompany the food and are often used in cuisine.

5. France - France is one of the best places to understand and enjoy top class cuisine. Bordeaux, France's wine making region is a great place to learn about wine. Wine tasting tours in France have been all the rage for quite a while now, and most of the visitors are housed in the old chateaux in the region.

6. Cambodia - Cambodian cuisine is based mainly around fresh fish and rice, with stewed meats liberally thrown in, and accompaniments like spicy vegetables, seafood fritters and shrimp concoctions. The cuisine is essentially fusion, inspired from neighbouring countries in the Orient.

7. Thailand - Thailand is a beautiful country, steeped richly in culture and heritage. Thailand is a great place to enjoy seafood and sample spicy cuisine. Cooking Thai food starts in the marketplace, buying local fresh produce.

8. Vietnam - Vietnamese cuisine is inspired a great deal by Indian, Cambodian and Thai cuisines, and there is a liberal use of coconut milk in various preparations. The meals also consist of many different kinds of tropical fruit, not available in the cooler areas up north. Vietnam tourism also has a number of package tours, designed to combine sightseeing and experiencing its cuisine, hand in hand.

9. Mexico - San Miguel de Allende is known for its exceptional culinary features, and its rich array of art galleries and boutiques. Cooking holidays in Mexico are journeys through the exultant culture that pervades every aspect of life. This is a chance to learn how to make perfect salsas and burritos, with coffee flavoured with chocolate, and to mix the perfect marguerita.

10. India - India is such a large nation that its cuisine depends on each state. Currently taking the world by storm is one of the South Indian cuisines from the state of Kerala. Rich in fish and coconuts, this cuisine is delicately spiced and flavoured. Learn the Kerala cuisine living on a houseboat, floating across the scenic backwaters of the beautiful Indian state.

Traditional Devon Food and Drink

The wonderful county of Devon is situated in the south west of England and is not only known for its sandy beaches and wonderful countryside but also for its glorious local recipes and ingredients.

The Devon pasty is by far the most well known of Devon's cuisine exports. With its mix of beef, sliced potatoes and vegetables the pasty has gone from strength to strength over the past 20 years with many new flavours and styles being created every day.

There has always been a slight difference of opinion on whether the Devon pasty was created before the Cornish variety. Back in 2006 a researcher found evidential proof of the making of a Devon pasty in a receipt book, with information dating back to the sixteenth century contained reference to the cost of making a pasty from venison reared at the Mount Edgcumbe estate near the Tamar valley. Making the Devon pasty a clear winner by over 200 years against the Cornish pasty.

It is often said that the Pasty was invented originally by the wives of miners; the pasty was thought to have had a great advantage over food types due to its tough texture. The miners would be able to eat the contents of the pasty and throw away the exterior that would be covered in mud and dust.

Another popular food item is the Devon Cream Tea which consists of Tea served with scones, cream and jam. The cream used very often is Devon clotted cream. Clotted cream is made by heating unpasteurised milk and leaving it in shallow pans for several hours. In this time the cream will rise and clot which gives it its unusual texture and colour. Cream teas are also very popular around the world, for example in Australia and New Zealand they are called Devonshire Teas and in America they are Devon Teas and often served in the afternoon.

Evidence has shown that Cream Teas date back to the eleventh century; Monks at Tavistock abbey are reported to have been consuming bread with cream and jam for several hundred years.

Canary Islands Food and Drink

Canarian cuisine is a fusion of native Guanche, Spanish, Latin American and African foods. Because of the warm climate light meals are usually eaten as they are more easy to digest. Fish, fruit and fresh vegetables form the main diet with meat used in stews or eaten as steaks.

FOOD

Plantain Bananas
The Canary Islands are Europe's only plantain banana exporter. These delicious bananas are small and aromatic and are usually fried, they are very common in the West Indies. Mousse de Gofio is a desert made from gofio (grain flour), miel de palma (palm honey) and plantains and is absolutely delicious.

Tapas
Tapas is a Spanish concept, usually eaten before lunch or dinner with a beer or glass of wine. Tapa is a small light piece of food presented as a canape, pincho (on a stick) or as a mini-dish of a tradition recipe.

Papas Arrugadas or Papa Sancochada
Often used as a tapa, this is a dish of potatoes which have been boiled in very salty water and then served with mojo picon, a cold spicy sauce made with chilli, garlic, paprika and oil.

Arepas
These are tortas (Mexican sandwich) made from fine corn flour and filled with meat, cheese or sweet mango.

Fish
With fish being caught locally, you will find fish and seafood widely used in local and international dishes. Varieties of fish include sea bass, white sea bream, mackerel, parrot fish, wreckfish, damselfish and bogue. Fish is usually prepared in one of three ways - covered in salt, baked, fried or jareado (sun-dried and then seasoned). A popular fish dish from Tenerife is Sancocho Canario, a salted white fish served in a 'mojo' sauce.

Sampling the varied cuisine of the Canary Islands is a must when on one of the many travel deals available to these amazing islands.

DRINK

Beer
The Canary Islands have three locally brewed beers which are Dorada, Reina and Tropical.

Wine
Winemaking is a part of Canarian tradition. Many local people make their own wine with fruit from their own vines. The traditional sweet Malmsey wine is produced in the volcanic fields on Lanzarote.

Rum
Gran Canaria is well known for its rum factories. Ronmiel (honeyed rum) is a sweet drink made from rum and honey.

Barraquito
Also known as barraco, this is a coffee speciality from the Canary Islands and is very popular on Tenerife and La Palma. A barraquito is made from coffee, milk, condensed milk and a syrupy liquer called Cuarenta y Tres (43).

The Canary Islands are blessed with great weather, beautiful beaches, plenty of history, culture and traditional and welcoming friendly people who will go out of their way to make sure you enjoy your package holidays to these wonderful islands.

Ten Ideas For Creating Food and Drinks in the Blender

Smoothies are a delicious example of a drink that can be made in the blender. You can be as creative as you like with the ingredients and experimenting with tastes and textures is a lot of fun. You can whiz up milk and fruit, mixed fruit with honey and much more. If you have a blender and you only use it occasionally for making a smoothie now and then, you are missing out on a lot of other ways your blender can help you.

Here are some handy tips on how to make the most of your blender.

1. You can make your own baby food using the blender. This works out cheaper than buying baby food, plus you will know exactly what goes into it.

2. Blenders can help you with cooking because you can use them to chop and puree your ingredients, which is a real time saver. Some people prefer not to cook because they don't have time but using a blender can solve this problem. You can liquefy, chop, blend and puree in a blender and they come in handy with a multitude of different recipes.

3. You can make nice sauces using the blender to chop ingredients evenly. This is a great time saver as well as being easier and safer than using knives to chop your herbs, vegetables or whichever ingredients you are using.

4. If you have family or friends coming for a visit, you can whip up spreads, dips and other exciting mixtures in the blender. You can even make a business out of it if you are good at creating culinary masterpieces. All it takes is some experimentation and practice.

5. You can grate hard cheeses such as Swiss and Cheddar in the blender. Cut it into cubes and add them through the feeder cap while the blender runs.

6. Make breadcrumbs in the blender. Use fresh bread for soft breadcrumbs or stale bread for dry breadcrumbs. Again, you should add the pieces through the feeder cap while the motor runs.

7. Your blender can grind whole spices, coffee beans, nuts and crackers. You can make delicious nut butters or spice butters in this way.

8. Use the blender to grind poppy seeds, grate fresh coconut, dissolve gelatin and reconstitute frozen fruit juice and dry milk.

9. You can puree hot soup in the blender. Only fill it half full and leave the feeder cap open for the steam to escape. Begin on a very low setting and turn it up gradually.

10. And of course, there are smoothies!

The blender was invented in 1922 by Stephen Poplawski to create soda fountain drinks. He placed a blade at the base of a tall container and the first blender was born. Of course, the blender has been developed more since then and a blender is a frequent sight in most people's kitchens these days. Blenders come in glass, plastic and steel.

You can get ready-made mixes for smoothies or make your own from scratch. Whether the sun is shining or it is a cold day, juices and smoothies always go down a treat. A blender is designed to add air to a drink, to make it frothy, which is why blender smoothies always come out so good. So if you have a blender and hardly ever use it, why not try out some of the above ideas!

Blender Can Be Simple and Make Amazing Food and Drink

The blender is a fun little gadget that I use when I want to be creative. I do not have one of those fancy do every thing from dice to slice to chop kind of blenders. My blender is a very small one but it does what I ask it to do.

The most common reason I will use my blender is to make icy drinks. My kids love it on a hot sunny day when I take some drink crystal and mix it with ice to make snow cone style drink for the. Crystals come in all flavors. Many times I will have to make two different flavors that have contrast in color. Kids seem to really like having multiple color and flavors in one drink.

When I want to put a twist on my little blender I will add yogurt. You can simply blend yogurt and ice or you can add yogurt to a blended drink to make it creamy. You have to be careful about your colors and this kind of mixing can create a very unappealing color.

The blender is also a very useful tool when it comes to making salsa. My salsa is never the same twice which is too bad because I have made some amazing salsa with my blender. Every salsa I make is done the same way, half the ingredients are put into the blender and turned into puree. The puree is added to the finely chopped salsa ingredients. If you like your salsa chunky this is the way to do it. I would blend the beans is you like beans in your salsa as it will make it look more like mud.

This last one might seem a little strange but I was so surprised when I tried it on my self. Alfredo sauce is one on my favorite sauces to eat on pasta. We all know that Alfredo is also very fattening and great if you want to clog your arteries. I have tried eating lighter versions of Alfredo and I have never been pleased with the outcome. One day I tried something completely different. I put cottage cheese in my blender with enough half and half cream to get it to blend. I added some garlic, pepper and a pinch of cinnamon. I was blown away at the taste. The cottage cheese completely absorbed all the flavors and was creamy smooth without all the fat. The best part is Cottage cheese is loaded with protein so this was good for me.

I ate a lot of cottage cheese based Alfredo that year. I did lean it up by switching to milk instead of half and half. I hope these tips help you use your blender more.

Filipino Foods And Way Of Cooking

People of the Philippines loves to eat. The style of cooking and the foods included with it have evolved over many years from its random origins to a mixed cuisine with many Hispanic, Chinese, American, and other Asian influences adapted to indigenous ingredients and the local palate. This influences resulted into many delicious Filipino recipes.

Like other countries in Asia, Philippines is a heavy rice eating country. It is most often steamed and served during meals. If there is any leftover rice, it was often fried along side with garlic. It is commonly called as sinangag which is really great for breakfast along with cured meat, egg and sausages. In some regions, rice is combined with salt, condensed milk, cocoa, or coffee.

Filipinos do have many terms prior to their cooking style. Below are some of the most popular ones.

1). Adobo or Inadobo are dishes mainly cooked in vinegar, oil, garlic and soy sauce. It could also refer to just roasting on a wok, with light oil, garlic and salt. The most famous form or example of it is the adobong manok or chicken adobo.

2). Binagoongan or With Bagoong are cooked with fermented fish paste bagoong. Bagoong have strong odors which may be offensive to those unaccustomed to them. But this is what I can tell, bagoong taste really good and is good much with green mangoes as well. A popular dish for this kind of cooking is the binagoongang baboy.

3). Guinataan/sa Gata recipes are cooked with coconut milk. Often times, it includes chili as well. Perfect example for this kind of cooking is the famous Bicol express.

4). Guisa/Guisado/Ginisa" or "Gisado" are dishes sauted with garlic, onions and/or tomatoes. The most common and easiest Filipino cooking style. Most common cooking for vegetable dishes.

Above cooking terms are just few of the many terms Filipinos have in terms of cooking. Although there are so many kinds, types and processes, one thing is common in the way people of the Philippines cooks foods, Filipino do cook with heart. Meaning, all the dish being prepared are absolutely done with quality taste and finest ingredients as well.

Food and Drinks Made Easy With Oster and Cuisinart Blenders

Choosing the best blender means it has to be tough, long-lasting and convenient to use. Oster and Cuisinart are brand names that guaranty first class performance every time. They dedicate their time, energy and research to provide customers with what they are exactly looking for.

Oster blenders are known for its quality and durability. It has millions of loyal users and followers because their products last for years. It is an excellent appliance for food preparation. They have produced so many models already but we mention here a few.

You can get the Oster Contemporary Classic Beehive Blender at $75. It has two speed settings to better control precision in grinding. The classic Beehive is resistant to scratch with a jar that can be cleaned in a dishwasher. It can serve up to five cups and has a stainless steel ice-crushing blade.

Oster also takes pride in another product, the Oster 14 Speed Blender with Food Processor. It has a first-rate mincing and chopping performance from its chopper blade or the reversible disc blade. This type of blender is convenient to use that can fill five cups. It has a scratch resistant and dishwasher-safe glass jar. The food processor has a three-cup capacity. You can pour in liquids as you use it with its food pusher and cover. This fine blender with food processor can also be put away conveniently with its cord storage. You can purchase this for only $46.38.

Oster offers another product, the Oster 14 Speed Blender minus the food processor. This costs $47.37. Having the same capacity and quality, this model includes a five-cup scratch resistant and dishwasher-safe glass jar. It also has a stainless steel ice crusher. It is designed with 14 possible speed options and brushed with chrome to look good on top of your counter. It also has cord storage so you can neatly put it away.

Cuisinart Blenders is another leading brand that equates to quality. Its PowerBlend 600 Blender features a 500-watt motor. It has a large capacity with a 56 oz glass blender jar where you can also pour in liquids through its clear 2 oz measure pour lid. Use its 7-speed touchpad controls to adjust its blending performance. You can pulse, stir, chop, mix, puree, liquefy and crush ice with it. Simply pack it away without the tangle of cords with its brilliant push-in cord storage. Buy this product for $59.95 with a limited 3-year warranty.

Food processors and blenders are good together with the Cuisinart SmartPower Duet blender/food processor. Its large capacity of 40 oz glass blender jar can prepare ice and frozen drinks for several people. The work bowl can handle a volume of 3 cups. This model is so easy to use with its electronic touchpad and 7-speed controls that has separate buttons for ice crushing and food processing. You can pulse, too, at any speed rate. The stainless steel chopping blade, reversible slicing/shredding disc and any removable parts are scratch resistant and dishwasher-safe. At $99.95, it comes with an Instruction and recipe book. Enjoy Cuisinart's 3-year warranty.

For quality and style, Cuisinart presents the SmartPower Premier 600-Watt Blender. You can buy this for $99.95 and enjoy its durability and flair from the cast metal and stainless case that has an embossed Cuisinart logo. Its special feature is the count-up timer that helps you keep up with the time indicated in recipes. The powerful 600-watt motor can crush ice with no hassle and can handle the roughest blending jobs with ease. You can serve your recipe to as many people as you want with its 50 oz glass jar capacity.

This particular model also features the Cuisinart easy-to-use push-button controls and an easy push-on cover with a removable measured pour lid. Enjoy Cuisinart's 3-year warranty service and explore new food ideas with the instruction/recipe book that comes with it.