Homemade Dinner For Your Family

We live in a very busy world. It is often hard to keep up with the laundry and daily house chores after working all day, let alone try to prepare a good meal for your family that is not just quick, but nutritious for them as well. Homemade cooking can allow you to not only prepare nutritious meals, but they will think you have been cooking all day. After working all day, it is very tempting to just stop and buy take out food, but this isn't really very good for your family to eat on a regular basis.

We live in a world that is full of convenience. Homemade cooking can be very simple all you have to do is be a little creative. Cooking could be fun if it's not a complicated recipe. After all, self-cooking food assured with top class of "quality control" and less expensive!

There's nothing quite like eating a home cooked meal. It's also very satisfying to know that you have cooked a tasty and healthy meal for your family.


Home-Style Chicken Dinner.
Family dinner doesn't get any better than this convenient yummy-in-the-tummy chicken dish.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter or margarine,
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/4 pounds),
1/2 teaspoon salt,
1/4 teaspoon pepper, if desired,
3/4cup water,
1 envelope (0.87 ounce) chicken gravy mix,
1 bag (14 ounces) frozen baby whole potatoes, broccoli, carrots, baby corn and red pepper strips,
1 jar (4.5 ounces) Green sliced mushrooms, drained,
Chopped fresh chives or parsley, if desired,

Makes: 4 servings.

Method:

Melt butter in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Cook chicken in butter 15 to 20 minutes, turning once, until juice is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm.

Mix water and gravy mix (dry) in small bowl; pour into same skillet. Stir in frozen vegetables and mushrooms. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until largest pieces of potatoes are hot. Add chicken; cover and simmer about 2 minutes or until chicken is heated through.

Serve vegetable and gravy mixture over chicken. Sprinkle with chives.

Healthy Food And Nutrition

General Health And Nutrition Topics



• Carbohydrates: Starches And Sugars
In everyday language we know the most important of these carbohydrates as starches and sugars.•

Eating Healthy Food In The Colder Months

As the weather gets colder, you will have to changeyour eating habits along with the seasons.

• Whole Foods And Whole Food Digestion
After we have eaten our four-color meal--often we do this in a hurry, without much chewing, under a lot of stress, or in the presence of negative emotions--we give no thought to what becomes of our food once it has been swallowed.

• Healthy Eating For Your Family
You have the best intentions--but all your family wants to eat is the packaged garbage. They don't want to eat living foods and are happy eating foods from a box.

Food Additives And Organic Food
The real farm food grown on the real family farm is not always the same food contained in our frozen TV dinners.

• Clean Food Jokes And More!
You know you are drinking too much coffee when . . .- You lick your coffeepot clean.- Instant coffee takes too long.

• Clean Drinking Water Is A Powerful Healing Substance!
Water is the most powerful healing substance known to man.

Why Fructose Sugar Is Better Than White Sugar!
The natural fruit sugar fructose has one of the lowest glycemic indexes of any food - with a rating of only 20.

• How Much Protein Do We Really Need For A Healthy Diet?
How much protein you need, and what are the best forms, can and do cause heated debates.

• How To Live A Longer And Healthier Life!
Leading authorities agree that this new data is going to shatter many of the myths about aging and physical performance.

• Bowel Health: Constipation And Irregular Stool
Few people have truly normal stool today; this is because we habitually overeat, causing our stool to be composed primarily of undigested food.

• North American Diet: Why People Get Sick!
Most people overburden their organs of elimination by eating whatever they feel like eating whenever they feel like it.

• Preservatives And Additives! Extended Shelf Life!
There’s a joke that a Twinkie has so many preservatives that it will be the last food left edible after a nuclear holocaust.

• Secret Ways To Hide Nutrition In Foods Kids Love!
Now that we’ve seen the importance of including fruits and vegetables in our diet, how can we make sure that our family will eat them?

• Polluted Fish In Our Diet

• You Can Have Healthy Skin!
A skin care program is the combination of skin care products and a routine that will be most beneficial to the skin.

• Health And Weight Loss Benefits Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar has long been used as a health aid for weight loss and circulatory health.

• B12

• Healthy Garlic
Garlic has long been used to treat high blood pressure and as a prevention of strokes.

• Benefits Of Pepper
When we talk about pepper, we can refer to two separate parts of the pepper plant, the fruit, which is an edible herb, and the ground seed which is used as a spice.

• Cooking Spices And Herbs
A journey through the flavors and uses of spices and herbs.

• Stevia Sweetener Is Calorie Free And Sweeter Than Sugar
Stevia sweetener is a naturally sweet and calorie-free leafy green herb that is many times sweeter than sugar.

• How To Use Sucanat In Food
Sucanat (Sugar Cane Natural) is sugar in its most natural form.

• Why You Should Eat Unpasteurized Honey
Raw honey is actually the concentrated nectar of flowers.

• Vanilla Beans And Other Spices
Used in almost every sweet baked good, vanilla beans are an incredible spice.



Health Benefits Of Fruit


• Learn How To Make Your Own Fruit Juices, Smoothies And Shakes!
A FUN and EASY way to get more vitamins & minerals into your diet is by drinking freshly made fruit juices.

• Health Benefits Of Grapefruit

• Health Benefits Of Grapes

• Grapes For Health And Weight Loss
Instead of those boring and painful starvation diets, why not try The Grape Cure to lose those extra pounds around the middle?

• Cardinal Punch Recipe With Frozen Juice Concentrate

• Honeydew Melons Are Healthy
Honeydew melons are rich in vitamin C and are most flavorful if eaten at room temperature.

• Kiwi Fruit Came From The Chinese Gooseberry
One kiwi fruit and a banana are equal in their potassium content.

• Lemons Are Well Known As The Base For Lemonade

• Papaya Enzymes And Fruit
Papayas are known for their enzyme; papain, which is the basis for many meat tenderizing products on the market.

• The Pear Fruit Is Rich In Dietary Fiber
The somewhat bitter and pulpy pears of my youth have been replaced by the sweet, fragile, succulent, juicy, and delicious pears that are available today.

• Oranges Were Once Only For 'Rich People''
One hundred years ago, when my father was a boy, oranges were only for ’rich people’.

• Selecting Dole Pineapples
Select pineapples that are fresh looking and avoid fruit that are old looking, dry or with brown leaves. Avoid bruised fruit and those with soft spots.

• Nutritional Facts About Sweet Apples
Sweet apples are also high in fiber and are an excellent food for lowering blood cholesterol, and high blood sugar.

• Apricot Fruit Is Rich In Nutrition
Apricots are sweet in taste, a bit tart in flavor and are golden orange in color.

• More Mango Fruit Is Eaten Fresh Than Any Other Fruit
The enzymes in mangos are tenderizing as are the enzymes in papaya.

• Avocado Nutrition Information
In everyday language we know the most important of these carbohydrates as starches and sugars.

Pick Strawberries Fresh From Strawberry Fields
There is absolutely nothing that compares with the fragrance and taste of a fresh, fully ripened strawberry just off the vine.

• Honey Tangerines Bring Zest To Winter Months

• Sweet Tomatoes. Are They A Fruit Or Vegetable?
There are more than 300 varieties of tomato.

• Watermelon Nutrition Facts

• The Body Needs Natural Sugars From Fruit
Matured sugars in flowers are collected by bees and made into honey. Fruit sugars are, in truth, export products produced by plants.

The Kitchen ~~~~~ Heart of The Home.

Cooking ahead is the perfect solution for those people who love the taste of a homemade meal, but rarely have enough time to cook and actually enjoy it. The whole idea is to take a day and create your meals for the entire week.


Nowadays a lot of people seem to be busy working full time in high income jobs in the cities to pay for an overpriced mortgage just to keep up with "Jones's". The attitude is "I want, I want". Material possessions seem to play an important part in their lives. Yes, it's nice to have a nice home and a nice car and a holiday every year with the family but the home is hardly ever lived in because everyone is at work, the car sits in the driveway looking pretty and the holiday is the only time the family have quality time together! No-one has time to cook! They get home from work, take something out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave and, hey presto! A family meal! That's all well and good maybe once a week, but every day? No wonder the population is becoming unhealthy and overweight.

There's nothing quite like eating a home cooked meal. Prepared from scratch it is much tastier and more nutritious than something pulled out of the freezer. It's also very satisfying to know that you have cooked a tasty and healthy meal for your family. Even if you don't know how to cook, there really is no excuse as there are plenty of cookery books out there!


So next time you go to the freezer or order a take-away, think first! I am sure that your family would appreciate a home cooked meal once in a while! Go on, try it - you just might like it!


KEEMA MATTAR


Ingredients:

1/2 c ghee,
3 md onions, finely chopped,
1" thick piece of ginger peeled & minced,
5 garlic clove; peeled/minced,
6 whole cloves,
1/2 ts cinnamon,
1 tsp powdered coriander,
1 tsp powdered cumin,
1 tsp turmeric powder,
1 tsp salt,
1/4 tsp red pepper
3 tsp tomato paste
2 tsp yogurt, plain
2 lb lamb, ground
1 c peas

Method:

Heat butter or margarine in wide pot. Add onions and saute untilthey brown lightly. Add spices and stir well. Add tomato pasteand yogurt and cook 10 minutes. Add lamb, breaking it into finemince with a wooden spoon. Make sure the mixture has no lumps.Bring to a boil, lower heat and cook 50 minutes. Add peas andsimmer to heat through. Serve with naan or rice.

Yield: 8 servings as part of a large meal.

White Magic

The Coconut is the ultimate all-rounder.



I have a home made proverb that I put to use every now and then: when in doubt, use coconut. It works, for the coconut is a wonder ingredient. I have found that freshly grated coconut and coconut cream or milk can liven up almost anything.

When I was growing up in Calcutta, my earliest memories of the coconut revolve around a man who came a on cycle to our village home every now and then and gave us a lots of coconut.

Years later, I discovered the magic that the coconut weilds while trying out a chicken recipe. For this, you need to grind some ginger with boiled onions. Saute this for a while and then fry the chicken with it.In a blender mix yoghurt with coconut milk. Pour this over the chicken and let it cook on low heat till it is done.

Bengal, Kerela and other parts of the south and whole of India's west coast revel in the coconut.
And, of course, it's an equally-loved ingredient in other parts of south Asia, Southest Asia and the West Indies.

Indian mythology, however, has its own take on the subject. When the King Trisanku was thrown out of heaven by Lord Indra, the king's friend, Vishwamitra, created the coconut tree to prop him up, ensuring that the thick fronds gave him a cushion.

There is a one coconut dish that I learnt from my mother- in- law. This is a great prawn preparation, steam the prawns with finely chopped coconut, mustard paste, mustard oil and salt. Its delicious, I am sure you never forget it's taste.

The Thais make their green and red curries with coconut. And in the West Indies, coconut is used in puddings and pies.

Clearly, coconut is great for desserts drinks, too. The Bengalis love thier naarus ---- coconut balls with suger or jaggery, I am equally fond of this coconut sweet.

There is a Swahili proverb that says it all : A fly does not mind dying in coconut cream. That's an epitaph that I don't have a problem with.

Have You Ever Thought About Making Your Own Homemade Pasta

Homemade food is more nutritious than commercially prepared foods because it retains more of the nutrients, especially vitamin A and B. This is because the food is less processed. The jarring process necessitates the use of very high heat under pressure. Much more than you can generate when cooking at home. Unfortunately, many vitamins are destroyed by heat.

By making your own food, you’ll know exactly what your child is eating. You can monitor their diet, and know which vitamins and nutrients are lacking. A study by the San Francisco Chronicle in 2002, reported that over 40% of children’s calories come from fast and processed foods. Spend your time making your own food, rather than reading and de-coding labels on processed foods.

By making your own food, you’ll know exactly what your child is eating. You can monitor their diet, and know which vitamins and nutrients are lacking. A study by the San Francisco Chronicle in 2002, reported that over 40% of children’s calories come from fast and processed foods. Spend your time making your own food, rather than reading and de-coding labels on processed foods.

The cost for making your own baby food is often less than buying commercially prepared baby foods, if you shop smart and cook in larger quantities.

Homemade pasta has its own special taste and texture and combines well with delicate sauces - and you can make it the size and thickness you prefer.

Homemade Pasta with Eggs.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour,
1-1/2 cups Semolina flour,
3 eggs,
pinch of salt ,
1 Tbsp. olive oil.

Method:

Sift flour into a mixing bowl with salt. Beat eggs.

Gradually add eggs and oil to flour, very slowly, mixing with a spoon. As mixture becomes lumpy, begin to press together and knead with your hands. If mixture seems too dry and grainy, add one Tbsp. of water at a time until mixture holds together into a ball.

Removing dough from the mixing bowl, begin to knead dough for 2 minutes on a lightly floured board or table top.

Cut dough in halves, cover bowl with a dampened cloth and allow dough to rest for 30 minutes.

Roll out on a floured surface to desired thickness or roll thru a pasta machine. Dry slightly before using.

Note: Its very important. . . Allowing the dough to rest will improve the texture of the pasta when finished.

INDIAN FISH COOKING

Freshwater fish in your plate.



Many people love to experiment with different foods from different cultures and ethnicities. InEastern India, specially in Bengali food means rice and fish. From this it is easy to guess that Bengal is on the monsoon-drenched east coast of India. The other characteristic of coastal cuisines, the use of coconut, is clear in the the cuisine of eastern Bengal . Unlike other coastal kitchens, however, coconut oil is not used. The preferred cooking medium is mustard oil. Bengali spicing is somewhat different from the norm in the heartland of India, but similiar to that used further east.



Yogurt Fish


Fish prepared with yoghurt and spices


Ingredients:

1 LB OR 500 GMS of Rahu Fish, cutted in cubes (Or any other fish according to availability),
2 cups.of smoothly blended Yogurt /curd,
4 tbsp. of Mustard Oil,
A handful of Flour,
1 Bay Leaf,
1 Cinnamon,
1 Cardamom,
1 big onion & 1 small piece of Ginger (grounded to paste),
2 tsp. Chilly Powder,
1 tsp. Turmeric Powder,
1 tsp. Cumin Powder,
1 tsp. Sugar,
Salt according to taste,
Serve with, Rice or Chapati( parathas).

Method:

Heat 2 tbsp. of oil in a pan and fry fish till pale golden. Drain and keep aside. Add remaining oil and fry bay leaf, cardamom and cinnamon. Add ginger, onion, chili powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder and a little water if it becomes too dry. Fry for a while. Add blended yogurt/ curd and simmer on slow fire till oil comes up on top. Add fish with a little water, salt and sugar. Simmer till gravy is thick golden.

Try it in your home. It's really delicious and tasty.

FOR YOUR KID ONLY

BIRTHDAY CAKE




There can be so many gifts for the child, but the center of attraction is the birthday cake. They love the moment of cutting the birthday cake. More than the taste, we need to concentrate in shape, color, and size of the birthday cake. It is always better if we could design the birthday cake in cartoon characters that are familiar to the children.


Once the birthday cake is made , it should be decorated well. The decoration is generally done to the top and sides of the cake. It is always better to decorate the birthday cake using the favorite color of the birthday boy or girl. The table in which the birthday cake is placed also should be decorated suitably.



Chocolate Cake Recipe:


SWEET CREAM CHOCOLATE CAKE & FROSTING


CAKE:

2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 c. water
3/4 c. sweet cream
1/4 c. shortening
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted

FROSTING:


1/3 c. butter
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
3 c. confectioners sugar
1/2 c. sweet cream
2 tsp. vanilla


Cake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13 x 9 inch oblong pan. Measure all cake ingredients into large mixing bowl. Mix 1/2 minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes at high speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan and bake 40 to 45 minutes.

Frosting Directions:

Mix butter and chocolate thoroughly. Blend in sugar. Stir in sweet cream and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Enjoy the cake and the birthday party!

CAKE DECORATING WITH CANDY AND SMALL TOYS.