Category Archives: In The Kitchen

Smoothies fall into the category of sweetened beverages which is usually made out of fresh fruit. It is usually a drink which is chilled and blended. Sometimes it can even contain peanut butter or chocolate. Other than fruits the smoothies can also include a number of other things. Smoothies are served at restaurants but if you like then you can even try them at home. Different kinds of smoothies can be made at home. Here are some recipes which can be tried at home with very little effort and ingredient.

Orange Flip Freeze

Ingredients:

Water – 1 cup
1 can Orange juice concentrate frozen and undiluted – 6oz
Non fat milk – 1 cup
Ice cubes – 10
Vanilla – 1tsp

The Method:

Take all the ingredients mentioned above and place them in a blender or food processor and process the mixture until it gets smooth. Then you can pour the liquid in the glasses to serve.

Banana Berry Smoothie

Ingredients:

Banana – 1
Frozen peaches – 3/4 cups
Frozen strawberries – 1 cup
1 Dannon Vanilla yogurt nonfat – ½ cup
Orange juice concentrate – 1 tablespoon

The Method:

You need to take all the ingredients and place it in the blender. Then add some ice to it and blend the mixture until it gets smooth. Serve it chill.

Apple Apricot Smoothie

Ingredients:

Golden apple peeled and cored and chopped – 1
Peeled banana – 1
Apple juice – 1c
Honey – 1 tablespoon
Fresh apricots – 4
Vanilla yogurt nonfat – 3/4 c
Ice cubes – 10 to 12

The Method:

Keep the ingredients inside a blender and start blending them until it becomes smooth.

Berry Fruitie Smoothie

Ingredients:

Small banana frozen and cut into pieces – 1
Orange juice – 1 cup
Raspberries – ¼ cup
Vanilla yogurt sugar free and non fat – 1/3 cup
The Method:
You need to combine all these ingredients inside a blender and blend these ingredients until it gets smooth. Once it gets blended you can serve it in two glasses.
Grape Explosion Smoothie
Ingredients:
Red color seedless grapes – 2 cups
Purple grape juice – ½ cup
Ice cubes – 3
Seedless grapes green in color – 1 cup
Lime juice – 2 teaspoons
Minced and peeled gingerroot – 1 teaspoon fresh

The Methods:

Take all the ingredients and combine them in a blender and whip the mixture until it gets smooth.

You can create smoothies with different kinds of fruits like banana, grapes, berries, orange and apple. Check out the recipes because they are quite easy and simple and less time consuming. The ingredients are easily available in the local market.

Do you love to eat fish? Sea food is not only tasty but is healthy at the same time. You might surely have enjoyed this kind of food whenever you had made a trip to the beaches. Falling in love with seafood is quite normal and natural because of the wonderful taste of the fishes.

But if seafood is not cooked well you will never enjoy the meal. If you are fond of this food then try to learn some of the top recipes which you can even try at home. Some of the sea foods are available in cans which can be bought from the market for cooking. Check out some of the coolest recipes for sea food.

Shrimp Supreme

Ingredients:

Wild rice mix and mushroom – 1 package
Sliced celery – 2 stalks
Light cream cheese – 3 oz
Sliced green onion – 3
Diced red bell pepper – small 1
Hot water – ¼ cups
Raw shrimp deveined and peeled – 12 oz
1 lemon juice – ½ cup

The Method:

You need to preheat the oven to at least 425 degree F. then mix the rice mix with all the ingredients except the shrimp. Mix the seasoning packet as well. Mix all these things in a casserole which is ungreased. Now cover the casserole and bake it for at least 30 minutes. Then stir in the shrimp and again cover it and bake for about 15 minutes. Take out when the shrimp gets firm and pink.

Stuffed Cod

Ingredients:

Cod fillets thick and weighing 6 ounces – 2
Cottage cheese nonfat – ½ cup
Chopped and thawed frozen spinach – ½ cup
Egg white – 1
Minced garlic – ½ tsp
Nonfat crushed croutons – 4tbsp
Salt and pepper – to taste
Chopped onion – 2 tbsp
Lemon juice – fresh
Cornmeal – 2tsp

The Method:

First preheat the oven to at least 425 degree F. You need to create a pocket in the centre of the cod filet by cutting halfway through the thickness. Spread the cod and spray some cooking spray of butter flavor. Mix all the ingredients except lemon juice and cornmeal in a bowl. Now you need to divide the mixture and stuff it equally among the two filets.

Now sprinkle some lemon juice on it and then the cornmeal on the exposed side of the filet. Put in the oven and bake for at least 25 minutes until the fish tends to get flakey. Serve the dish hot for lunch or dinner.

This kind of seafood will surely help you win accolades among the eaters. Try the dish at home and you will know why seafood is so popular.

Margarita

Ingredients:

• Sour drink mix – ¼ cup
• Lime juice – just a splash
• Lemon juice – just a splash
• Ice

Method:

You need to put all of the ingredients into a blender and then you stir this till it becomes completely ice and also smooth. When you garnish it you have to rim the glass using margarita salt and you put just a single lime slice on the rim. You also need to serve it in a margarita glass.
Strawberry Lemon Daiquiri Mocktail

Ingredients:

• Lemonade – ½ cup
• Strawberries – ½ cup
• Crushed ice

Method:

You have to add the lemonade along with the strawberries and also 5 ice cubes to the blender. Blend this till it becomes completely slushy. If required you have to add a bit more ice. When you garnish it, you will have to add a sugared strawberry on top of the rim of the glass. Then you add a little umbrella to it. This as well you have to serve in a margarita glass.

Beachcomber

Ingredients:

• Guava nectar – 10 parts
• Raspberry syrup – 2 parts
• Fresh lime juice – 4 parts

Method:

You need to combine all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Into that you also have to add ice. Shake this very well and then you can strain it out and put it in a tall glass and serve.

Apple Spider

Ingredients:

• Juice of apples – 4
• Lemonade – 400 ml
• Lemon sorbet – 2 scoops

Method:

Mix the apple juice along with the lemonade and pour this into two very tall glasses. Then to this mixture you add a scoop of the sorbet.

Acapulco gold

Ingredients:

• Freshly pressed pineapple juice – 2 shots
• Freshly squeezed grapefruit juice – 1 shot
• Coconut milk – 1 shot
• Fresh cream – 1 shot

Method:

Shake together all of the ingredients along with the ice. Then you have to strain this into a serving glass. The serving glass should be a cocktail glass.
Black and Tan

Ingredients:

• Chilled ginger ale
• Chilled ginger beer

Method:

Pour both the liquids with equal quantities into pilsner glasses which should be chilled. Make sure that you don’t stir it.
Cape Cod Sunrise

Ingredients:

• Cranberry juice – 6 parts
• Fresh lime juice – 2 parts
• Lime slice
• Sprig of mint

Method:

Mix all the juice in a shaker with ice. Strain in a wine glass and garnish with lime and mint sprig.

Mexican Food is a fantastic way to spice up your family dinner any night of the year. From traditional Enchiladas to Tamales, Mexican Food offers a flavorful yet healthy alternative to the normal everyday meal. Often, this food is extremely easy to prepare, and can be made with items that are easy to find in most markets.

Tortillas

Tortillas have been the staple food of countless generations of Mexicans and can be made of flour (common in the north) or maize (the traditional method and still most common in the south). Tortillas are mostly served alongside a meal as bread would be and are also used in many usual dishes, rolled and baked for enchiladas, fried for tacos or grilled for quesadillas.

Frijoles (beans)

They are a good source of protein. These different varieties of beans are most commonly boiled and fried. Beans can be a major component in a meal or served as a garnish.

Salsa

A salsa is essentially simply a sauce, although it is commonly related with the red or green mix of tomatoes, chili, onion and cilantro served as a relish or a dip. Just be a bit cautious of ‘salsa habañero’ in seemingly harmless bottles like small jars of ketchup, and try just a little salsa first.

Enchiladas

Tortillas covered in a tomato and chili sauce and stuffed with vegetables, chicken or pork and then folded and baked. Even with the chili content, enchiladas are fairly mild. Enchiladas suizas are topped with sour cream.

Quesadillas

These are tortillas stuffed with cheese which are folded and grilled. It’s a basic dish mainly served with beans or a small salad and suits those who want to avoid anything spicy.

Tacos

Tacos are tortillas fried till these are crispy. These are served with various fillings.

Majority of present day’s Mexican cuisine is based on traditions of Native Americans, including the Aztecs and Mayans, combined with cooking procedures brought by Spanish colonists. For instance, Quesadillas are a flour or corn tortilla with cheese (mostly a Mexican-style cheese such as Queso Fresco), beef, chicken and pork. The native part of this and several other traditional foods is the Chile pepper.

Foods like these are very colorful because of the rich variety of vegetables such as red peppers, green peppers, chiles, broccoli, cauliflower, and radishes in Mexican food. There are more exotic dishes, cooked in the Mayan or Aztec style, with ingredients from iguana to rattlesnake, spider monkey, deer and some insects. This is commonly known as comida prehispanica or prehispanic food and though uncommon, is still relatively well known.

When it comes to snacks, more often than not, we don’t make the healthiest of choices. In fact, most people, even though they take great pains to ensure that all their meals are healthy, don’t pay too much attention to their snacking habits. It’s quite a travesty, because sometimes, even month after month of unsuccessful weight loss programs doesn’t drive the point home!

Here’s a tip and a really important one – when you are trying to lose weight, you need to pay extra attention to all the stuff you’re snacking on. Getting yourself a bottle of soda and some fries to go just won’t do because that’s going to undo all your hard work at the gym. Your snacks should be healthy too! A lot of times people don’t get time to prepare healthy snacks, because, with the kind of busy lives we lead, going to great pains over snacks is just not an option!
Well, my friend, here’s a healthy snack for you and it doesn’t take much to prepare it either!

Ingredients:

• Diced Canadian Bacon – 4 ounces

• Pizza sauce – 1 cup

• Dijon salad dressing (honey, fat-free) – 1 tbsp

• Chopped green onion – 1

• Roasted and chopped red bell pepper – 1/4th

• Medium sized tomato, chopped – 1

• Frozen whole wheat bread dough – 10 ounces or 1 can

• Well drained crushed pineapple – 1 and ½ tbsp

• Olive oil – 1 tsp

• Shredded mixed cheese – ¼ cup (eg. Romano, mozzarella etc.)

Method:

1. Coat a baking sheet with a thin layer of cooking spray; preheat your oven to 400F

2. Add bacon, roasted pepper, pineapple, tomato, onion and salad dressing to an appropriately sized bowl and mix thoroughly.

3. Coat a working surface with flour and proceed to cut the dough mixture into quarters, then shape each of the pieces into circles. Thereafter, with the help of a rolling pin, roll until dough attains an oval shape. Put a healthy serving of the calzone mixture into each oval with 1 tbsp cheese. Then fold, so that dough covers filling, carefully pressing the edges together. After crimping with a fork, place on the prepared baking sheet.

4. Coat the calzones with olive oil and proceed to bake until they attain a golden brown color (this takes about ten minutes). Put a healthy dollop of warmed pizza sauce on the calzones and serve hot!
Your healthy snack is ready for devouring!