Annie Dubois asked:


If you are like me, the thought of delicious foods range from fresh strawberries to the best in rich, healthy meals. While strawberries are definitely a favorite of mine, I have to admit, I have a fondness for many of those scrumptious Mexican food recipes you can find on the internet these days. Of course, not every recipe is designed in a fashion that would be appealing to everyone, but that is the great thing about any good recipe - with only a couple changes any recipe can be tailored to your own perfection.

Mexican food recipes are extremely popular online. The fact is that more and more individuals are discovering the wonderful benefits of having the best in Tex-Mex cuisine in their life. This is a delicacy that has been around for quite some time, and this is a time-honored tradition that has spread across the globe.

So what you are looking for the best recipe for your own family, what is it you should be considering?

The number one consideration will have to be immediate health concerns. If you have a spouse that is allergic to nuts, chances are good you will want to either avoid or alter any recipe you find that contains nuts or nut byproducts. If you happen to have a child that has diabetes, you may want to consider avoiding undo blood sugar elevating ingredients. Yes, you can cook healthily, but you will have to be aware of the health risks involved and how to avoid those risks.

Mexican food recipes happen to be filled with healthy ingredients including vegetables, fruit, lean meat, and even the spices are healthy. With a mixture of cumin, cayenne, and/or olive oil, the average person will never realize how healthy that delicious food actually is.

Many people are under the assumption that good food tastes icky. This is actually far from the truth. Any healthy diet will have favorite foods, but the portion size is what generally gets to people. Eating an enchilada is not bad; eating a dozen enchiladas is not a good habit to have. However, you will discover that you can work off some of those enchiladas with a brisk walk in the evening!

Finding a recipe these days is easier than ever. Simply type what you are looking for in your favorite search engine, click the search button or tap the enter key, and you have instant access to thousands of possibilities.

Are all those possibilities right for you and your family?

Definitely not! What you will find is that you get to pick and choose through the varieties offered. Generally, you will have an idea of what it is your family will eat and if the recipe will fit within your budget. Once you find a recipe you would like to try, you can easily print the recipe out and prepare your gourmet meal.

Few things taste as good as fresh, homemade Mexican food. Recipes today are easy to find which means you can easily obtain that perfect family tradition in the making. Tantalize the senses while enjoying a healthy lifestyle has never been this aromatic or delicious.

Abdrew Krause asked:


Most home cooks at some time or another find themselves getting interested in ethnic cuisine. The impetus might come from their heritage … maybe grandma was a German immigrant or grandpa came from Vietnam. Or it could just be simple cook’s curiosity. All of us get tired of cooking the same old recipes over and over, and decide to move beyond, frequently into ethnic food recipes.

However, and this is especially important if you don’t already know anything about the particular cuisine you’re after, it can be hard to figure out if the recipes you’re cooking are authentic, or are even worth trying. You might pick an Asian recipe that sends you out hunting exotic ingredients for three days only to find that either the recipe was written poorly or the flavor is something you just can’t stomach.

Unless you want to sink a lot of money into cookbooks, your best source of recipe information is going to be the Internet. However, searching for Internet recipes can be fraught with peril. How do you know this recipe will work? Do you have any clue what it tastes like? Do you maybe have a picture of what the finished dish should look like?

This is where sites that allow user reviews of recipes are invaluable. We foodies are a verbose bunch, forever ready to share good recipes and tips and warn others away from the bad ones. On sites such as Allrecipes or Cooks.com, you’ll find ethnic food recipes with hundreds of reviews from users. Often, these reviews will include possible ingredient substitutions, problems inherent in the preparation and possible solutions and all sorts of other great information. It’s very similar to having a kitchen full of cooks ready to teach and advise you at all times.

While you might not want to trust just one or two reviews, you can feel fairly safe when you see certain ethnic food recipes have been cooked successfully by dozens of people. Pick the recipe, read the comments and forge ahead!

Abdrew Krause asked:


A couple of centuries from now, this will be referred to as the Golden Age of the Foodie, without a doubt. Never before have so many cuisines, ingredients and cooking methods been so readily available to so many people. Even the most exotic ingredients can be found, the most obscure of kitchen gadgets located. If you’re into cooking Italian you’ll find a wealth of food recipes available.

Where is this treasure trove? If you’re reading this, you’re standing knee-deep in it right now. It’s the Internet.

With the explosion in Internet content, a huge amount of information has become available free of charge to anyone interested in cooking with different food recipes. With the click of a mouse, you can open huge recipe collections, read cooking tips and even see video demonstrations of basic cooking procedures, if your computer is beefy enough to handle such things.

When it comes to food, the options are even more limitless. In years past, if a food maker wanted to get his product to the public, he had basically two options. He could hit the farmer’s markets, running a booth and selling directly to the public on a small scale, or he could go through the torturous process of getting his products into grocery stores. This can be a very time-consuming and frustrating process, and once the products are in they require constant attention to ensure they are properly shelved, labeled and stocked.

Now, with the Internet, small food producers can sell their products directly to the public. Some of them have even banded together to form the electronic equivalent of a farmer’s market, with many producers under one Web site’s banner.

Cooking Italian food recipes, the growth has been just as explosive. There are vast databases of recipes with special sections devoted to Italy, and even sites devoted solely to the cuisine of the country.

Whether you’re into cooking Italian food recipes or all of the above, your computer can bring you an almost endless menu of options.

 

Barbecue Smoker Recipe Man asked:


It amazes me how many great chefs can cook fantastic dishes yet fail to be able to write recipes in a clear and concise way that makes for easy reading and understanding. Many could do with working in manufacturing industry for a number of weeks and learn the skill involved in preparing a bill of materials for a product because in this way they would get to understand how certain ingredients can be grouped together to make a “sub assembly” before the preparation into the final assembly.

Some top chefs have mastered this of course and they truly produce excellent food, freshly prepared and in a short space of time. It simply boils down to storing the food in it’s sub assembly state until you’re ready to serve then throw everything together and give it a blast.

I’m a barbecue and smoker enthusiast and I love to experiment with different marinades, rubs and mops as well as making some really tasty accompaniments for my BBQ parties. It wasn’t until last year that a friend suggest I should “bottle” my knowledge and share it but my confidence wasn’t too great because first of all I’m not a professional chef and second I’ve never written a recipe.

I guess everybody has to start somewhere and when I thought about my day job it in manufacturing and also how some recipes really annoy me I found the way forward. All it took then was to think about how I prepared the meal and write it down.

One thing that really frustrates me is when there’s no clear information about how long the recipe is going to take, admittedly it’s not that important for barbecue recipes because the BBQ cooking is part of the fun and if you’re into smoking most people already know the rule of thumb that it take a minimum of 60 minutes per pound of meat and a thermometer to measure the internal temperature of the food. What’s really annoying is when you get half way through a recipe and then see the words “put the mix to one side and marinate overnight”.

So aside from ensuring that the method clearly states how to put the ingredients together in a manner that ensures the final assembly is as easy as possible, it’s essential to state clearly in the opening summary whether that are any time constraints with the recipe. For another example just a quick note at the top of the page to state preparation time and cooking time will work wonders.

There is a protocol when writing ingredients that the largest constituents go first running down to the inevitable pinch of salt and pepper at the bottom. For me it doesn’t make sense because I like to see the ingredients together that get mixed together. For example if we’re doing a rub then I would prefer to see all the rub ingredients listed separately, this way it’s clear to read and I don’t forget anything. That’s my way, you may have yours but if together it brings more great recipes to the internet then hopefully we’re onto a winner.

Barbecue Smoker Recipe Man asked:


Many friends and work colleagues have phoned in sick because of food poisoning and followed it up with something like “I had a BBQ at the weekend, and I must have eaten something not properly cooked”.

To be honest I think some of them probably just drank too much but clearly there’s enough of a belief out there that food hygiene is a problem at a barbeque for either a genuine day off work or a cast iron excuse.

In many of the barbecue articles that I’ve written I’ve concentrated on the phrase “sizzle is hot, flames are not” which focuses on the need to be patient and control the barbecue flames. If however you still haven’t mastered this point then maybe it’s time to resign yourself to buying a barbecue thermometer?

Why do I need a BBQ thermometer? Take this barbecue hamburger example:

Many folks assume that when barbecued hamburger is brown in the middle, it is well done but according to USDA research, 1 out of every 4 hamburgers turns brown before it reaches a safe internal temperature. The internal temperature must be 160°F before its safe to eat.

The bug we’re trying to protect ourselves against is e-coli, and bacterium that live on the surface of meat. This is an important point and essential to understand because we can happily eat a rare steak without any chance of food poisoning. Provided the steak is cooked well on the outside, the bacteria are killed.

This is not the case with a hamburger however because the burger is made from ground meat so surface bacteria could be anywhere inside the hamburger.

The signs and symptoms of food borne illness range from upset stomach, diarrhoea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and dehydration, to more severe illness-even death, but having said all this, please don’t be put off having some hamburgers at your next BBQ cookout. With a few simple precautions that follow the rules of basic food hygiene and barbecue food poisoning will be a thing of the past.

Use a food thermometer. Instant-read food thermometers are good for checking the internal temperature toward the end of the cooking time.

1. The food thermometer should be placed in the thickest part of the food and should not be touching bone, fat, or gristle.

2. Make sure to clean your food thermometer with hot, soapy water before and after each use!

The other option is to use a large-dial oven-safe or oven-probe thermometer and these can be inserted in the meat and used for the duration of cooking.

There are many types of food thermometers, so it is important to follow the instructions for your food thermometer to ensure the correct reading. When happy with the method of use you can refer to the USDA Recommended Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures to ensure a safe barbeque cookout.

· Steaks & Roasts - 145 °F

· Fish - 145 °F

· Pork - 160 °F

· Ground Beef - 160 °F

· Egg Dishes - 160 °F

· Chicken Breasts - 165 °F

· Whole Poultry - 165 °F

That’s the main one, but to finish off here are a few more tips to help you avoid food poisoning at your next BBQ:-

1. Wash hands and surfaces often

Use warm, soapy water for 20 seconds before and after handling food and wash you’re cutting boards after each food item is prepared

2. Don’t cross-contaminate, always keep raw and cooked food separate. Never place cooked food on a plate which previously held raw meat, poultry, or seafood.

3. Refrigerate promptly - but do not cover (e.g. with stretch wrap) if the food is still hot

Refrigerate or freeze perishables, prepared foods, and leftovers within 2 hours or sooner.

Be Food Safe! Prepare With Care

Know how to prepare, handle, and store food safely to keep you and your family safe. Bacteria can grow on meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy products, as well as cut-up or cooked vegetables and fruits.

Follow the above and food poisoning should be a thing of the past. Why not pass this onto your employees? You may see a marked improvement in Monday morning attendance - or maybe just a different excuse.

Annie Dubois asked:


Having a simple meal for the entire family is easy, delicious, and healthy. Add into the equation Mexican food, and you will find you have a delicious meal for any occasion. Having a favorite chicken recipe on hand when mingled with Mexican food cuisine will obviously take you to explore this recipe.

Choosing the best solution for your needs means looking at a lot of Mexican food recipes. In addition, you will want to explore the differences between Tex-Mex food and Mexican food. This Chicken and Bean Burritos recipe incorporates a lot of healthy possibilities along with delicious Tex-Mex cuisine that is not always for the healthy conscious.

Chicken and Bean Burritos

Ingredients:

4-5 chicken breasts (or thighs or a mixture)

1 small onion chopped

1-2 bay leaves

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1/8 tsp red pepper

1/8 tsp white pepper

1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

chicken stock or broth

1 red onion chopped

1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced fine

1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

grated Colby-Jack cheese

fat free sour cream

2 cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed

salsa

lettuce, chopped

tomatoes, chopped

burrito-sized flour tortillas

Directions:

Place chicken, onion, bay leaves, spices in a pot and cover with chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is done. Remove the chicken, let cool and shred. Strain the broth and save.

Drain and rinse the pinto beans. Place the pinto beans in a food processor and process until smooth, adding a couple of tablespoons of either salsa or chicken broth or sour cream if too thick.

In a bowl, combine the chicken and beans, again adding salsa or the chicken stock until the filling mixture is moist enough to stick together. (If you get it too wet, add more processed beans). Add the chopped red onion, the jalapeno pepper and the chopped cilantro and mix.

Take a large flour tortilla and spread with a little bit of the fat free sour cream and some grated cheese. Add a couple of tablespoons of the filling on one end and fold the sides over and then roll up. You can use a toothpick to keep it rolled up or place it end side down to keep it from unrolling.

Either bake in the oven at 450F until brown and crunchy or microwave until hot. Serve topped with lettuce, tomatoes and red onion, fat free sour cream, grated cheese, salsa and jalapenos.

Have you heard this one….

A Texan’s explanation (exaggerated and over simplified) of what is Tex-Mex food?

“Anything with jalapeno peppers in it or with it is Tex-Mex!”

“Anything that is chicken-fried is Texas cooking”.

“The basic food groups in Texas are: chili, barbecue, beans, jalapenos and Meskun food!”

Remember, if you are looking for an exception chicken recipe for your next meal, you may find just what you are looking for with the Mexican food recipe. Filled with delicious goodness, you will definitely make this a favorite in your household. In addition, you can easily cater this to meet your family’s needs and preferences.

barrymosh asked:


Rachael Ray T.V show exhibits her tenderness, vigor and her immense desire to live life to the fullest. The show keeps the viewers glued to TV as Rachel explores different aspects of life in her own way, while dishing out sumptuous meals from her kitchen. She knows that good food goes hand-in-hand with good life.

Eminent Guest List

The show has seen guests like Oprah Winfrey, Diane Sawyer, James Caan & Josh Duhamel, Emmitt Smith, Jessie L. Martin and S. Epatha Merkerson, Jessie L. Martin and S. Epatha Merkerson, Magician Justin Kredible, Actress Ali Larter etc. also trying their hand at cooking or sharing their favorite recipes with the viewers.

Special Features Of The Show

Rachael Ray T.V show is not like any other cookery show, where the host tells recipes, gives a quick recap of the ingredients and steps. Rachel Ray is very interactive. She not only shares her recipes, but also shares stories, tips and has lot of fun interacting with the viewers. Her dishes are simple and easy to cook and most importantly, quick, i.e. they can be cooked within 30 minutes.

Theme Episodes

Each episode of Rachael Ray T.V show has a theme and both recipes and locations are chosen accordingly. For e.g. school lunches for kids, dishes for a theme party - complete from drinks to the dessert, low calories recipes, take-out meals etc. This gives the show, a feel of a story, where a series of events follow, rather than just a monotonous cookery show.

All the episodes of Rachael Ray T.V Show have sections namely : ‘Tip Alerts’, ‘Tricks & Tips’, ‘Snack of the Day’, and ‘scrumptious, easy to fix dishes’. The lifestyle tips given by her may not necessarily concern cooking, like tips to clean your closet, giving haircut to children, buying jewelry on a budget, make-up tips, decorating a dinner table etc. Tips from viewers are also invited, so they definitely feel that they are a part of the show.

barrymosh asked:


Do you know it is possible to make delicious recipes at home in less than 30 minutes? Rachel Ray 30 minute meals recipe is the answer to your cooking dilemmas. Ray promises that her dishes will not take more than 30 minutes from the start to finish. She teaches simple and easy recipes in this short time.

You will find the use of garlic and chicken stock in Rachel Ray 30 minute meals recipe to enhance flavor. She also emphasizes on using of fresh herbs. She does not believe in the concept of measuring ingredients. Instead she believes in approximations like one palmful, eyeball it etc.  She claims that she cannot bake as the ingredients have to be measured, cannot make coffee and is notorious for burning bread under the broiler. She has reinvented some of the slow cooking traditional dishes like macaroni and cheese, clam chowder. Ray gives us tips and tricks to speed up the process of cooking these dishes and to increase the flavor by adding fresh herbs and stock. She often makes a salad or uses greens and vegetables to make her dishes healthy and nutritious to eat.

Rachel Ray 30 minute meals recipe was first prepared using a santoku knife and became a favorite of every home kitchen. She currently uses a Furi Gusto Grip knife which was designed by her. As her shows do not allow the use of real brand name logos to appear a graphic designer creates faux labels for her food products. She also uses several repetitive catchphrases on her show like how good is that, E.V.O.O (extra virgin olive oil), insanely good, de-lish, etc.

Rachel Ray was exposed to a wide range of cooking techniques all her life as her family had a rich culinary tradition. Rachel Ray 30 minute meals recipe has gained a lot of popularity and today is a must-use recipe in every household. Her show is rated among the top day time shows and has also won her Emmy award recognition in the year 2006. Iin the year 2007 she was nominated for the Best Daytime Talk Show.

barrymosh asked:


On air, for the last two years, Rachel food show is doing just great. This hour-long syndicated series is a daily affair. Rachel Ray’s association with cooking and food shows dates beyond her popular show `30 minute meals’. She has also been the host of `$40 a day’ and `Inside Dish’, both on Food network.



Rachel’s Forte

Dishes that can be prepared in 30 minutes are Rachel’s forte. People, who are tied up because of their hectic jobs swear by her recipes. Rachel does not hesitate in using ready to use, canned and packed ingredients, where they can save time. You may have seen her using corn and muffin mix, peanut butter or ready ice-cream in her dishes. After-all her recipes are all about convenience and saving time. Her recipes are not complicated and you will never see her using ingredients, which are hard to find.



What’s In It?

Rachel food consists of various Italian and Cajun recipes, probably because she belongs to that culture. She uses garlic and fresh herbs, very often to enhance the flavor of her dishes. She makes a salad or uses vegetable greens to go as an accompaniment with her main dishes. She does not apply exact measurements in her recipes and uses approximate measures only.

Besides being available online, Rachel food has also found place in various cookbook volumes of Rachel Ray’s popular series `30 minute meals’. These come with titles such as veggie meals, meals for kids, deliciously different dinners, cooking around the clock etc.

mohan mittal asked:


(ARA) - You’ve seen aspiring singing idols, survivors in the wilderness and gold-medal athletes. Now meet the Best Teen Chef in America Patricia Homma, who sautéed, roasted and whisked her way to the top award in a national high school Culinary Arts scholarship competition sponsored by The Art Institutes, a leading educator in design and culinary arts nationwide.

After an intense two-hour cook-off, competing with 17 other high school seniors from around the country, Homma, an honors student at Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga., was awarded the gold medal and a $30,000 scholarship to attend The Art Institute of Atlanta. The competition was held at The Art Institute of New York City.

Homma dreams of having all her family and friends celebrate every holiday at her home, the way it was at her mom’s house growing up in Brazil. After she moved to the United States in 1997, Homma began to watch cooking shows on television after school and was inspired to try some recipes and start cooking for her family. She’s been cooking ever since, for her friends as well. Although busy with work and a local youth group, she still finds time to watch Food TV, where her current favorites are “Iron Chef” and “30-Minute Meals with Chef Rachael Ray.”

Each contestant submitted a three-course menu as part of the entry requirements. Homma’s menu was titled “Tropical Sensations” and featured spinach and mango salad and grilled salmon (recipes below).

Now in its fourth year, The Art Institutes Best Teen Chef in America competition is an annual scholarship program that seeks to spotlight and recognize the most promising young culinary talent in the country. Eighteen high school seniors and would-be chefs were selected as finalists at regional competitions held in March at each of the Art Institutes where Culinary Arts programs are offered. More than $190,000 in tuition scholarships was awarded to the top nine finalists.

Next year’s Best Teen Chef 2004 competition will take place at The Art Institute of California - Orange County on May 22. Deadline for entries is Feb. 13, with local cook-off competitions taking place March 27. To receive information, register at www.artinstitutes.edu/today.

First through third place winners received $30,000 scholarships from The Art Institutes. In addition to Homma, second place finisher Lauren Cianfrani, representing The Art Institute of Philadelphia and Jenny Winiecki, representing The Art Institutes International Minnesota, who finished third, received $30,000 scholarships.