Savory Home Cooking

Here is a great Italian recipe,Cod loin wrapped in basil and parma ham served on a bed of sunblushed tomato and pepper fettuccine. This dish is fantastic and so easy to do,but make sure not to overcook the fish. If you do not have time to make a tomato sauce then most good quality jars of sauce will suffice and you will only need to add peppers fresh basil and sun blushed tomatoes. however you will not get the rough texture that is intended with this dish.

Ingredients
For pasta and sauce
- 200g fettuccine (tagliatelle or spaghetti can be used instead)
- 25g fresh basil
- tbsp dried basil
- tbsp tomato puree
- 500ml weak veg stock (veg oxo would be adequate)
- 1 tin of chopped plum tomatoes
- 1 jar sun blushed tomatoes in brine (super markets will do them)
- i green sweet pepper finely sliced
- 1/2 white onion finely sliced
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 25ml olive oil
- tsp sugar
- salt & pepper to taste
- 50ml red wine

For wrapped cod loin
- 2x 175g skinless cod loin
- 10 basil leaves
- 4 slices of parma ham
- tsp olive oil
- season to taste.

Serves 2

Method
- firstly lightly oil your cod loins and season well on both sides.
- place two slices of parma ham on your chopping board so they are next to each other facing vertically on the chopping board.
- Put 5 basil leaves covering the first half of the slices
- Place cod loin on top of the leaves, so the parma hams slices are vertical and the cod horizontal. Carefully wrap the cod loins with the parma ham. This is done by grabbing the edges of the slices and rolling them around the cod so it is firmly wrapped. Repeat process with the other loin. Wrap in clingfilm and set aside in fridge until required.
- Meanwhile sweat off onions and garlic in 1/2 tbsp of olive oil, in a medium sized saucepan on a medium heat, until onions become translucent. This generally takes 3-4 mins
- Add chopped tomatoes stock, red wine, tomato puree and dried basil. Make sure you dont put the fresh basil in until right near the end otherwise the nice green colour will spoil
- bring to the boil and add sugar.
- continue to simmer on a medium heat for at least an hour. Make sure before taking off the heat the volume has reduced by 2/3.
- Meanwhile pre heat oven to 200*c, amd put a large lightly oiled frying pan on to heat to a fierce heat
- Preheat a frying pan on a high heat and place cod into it. Cook for 2 minutes either side and then place on a baking tray and in the oven for 10-12 mins saving the pan you have just used for the peppers.
- Next fry the peppers off in the panCook for 6-7 mins or peppers are soft. Meanwhile put a lightly salted pan of water on for the pasta makes sure you put a tsp of olive oil into it aswell.
- Add sun blushed tomatoes and cook for a further 2mins.
- Once water has boiled add frsh pasta to it and bring back to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5mins.
- Add tomato sauce to peppers and fresh fresh basil, cook for a further 2mins, season to taste then drain pasta and add to the sauce. Toss pasta well with sauce so it is coated.
- Place pasta on plate then Cod loin on top and serve

P.S. Find out how to make sure that food is your friend – get into balance with health and food – read about emotional freedom technique.

Amongst the western world’s favorite meat products is beef, and given its taste and versatility, is it any wonder?.

In recent years, there has been plenty of controversial debate on the question of whether beef is a nutritious food that should be in every diet, or a cause of health problems to be shunned and eaten only in small quantities.

Amongst all the debate it is difficult to tell truth from fiction, even in scientific circles, opinion is divided, but further on in this column we will bring up many useful facts on beef, dispense with a few wellknown fallacies and make sure that you get the relevant facts required to make your own decision.

However, before that, here is a wonderful beef recipe which you can easily prepare for your children and family.

This is an enticing recipe for ‘macaroni beef chili’. It is quick to cook and is a rapid and efficient way to feed a family with lots of children.

Ingredients:
—————-
Macaroni – uncooked : 1 x cup
Lean Ground Beef : 1/2 lb
Powdered garlic : a half teaspoon
Hot cayenne or chili Powder : 1 tsp
Salt : one small pinch
Freshly ground pepper : 1 x small pinch
Tomato soup : 1 x Can
Hard cheddar cheese : one ounce (finely grated)

Recipe method:
—————-
Bring a good sized saucepan of water to a rolling boil add the macaroni, bring back to the boil and cook for 7 minutes approximately.
Brown meat in another large saucepan and very carefully remove any fat that has been rendered.
Mix in the garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper and then stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed.
Reduce the heat and cook gently for approx. five mins.
Stir in the macaroni and tomato soup, and bring to a rolling boil.
Cook for a an additional few minutes until soup and macaroni are heated through.

Just before serving add the cheese, and cook a little more till it melts.

Transfer into bowls and serve.

This is a great beef recipe to prepare in bulk as excess quantity can be kept in the fridge and served the next day.
If you want to cook a long time in advance, you can leave the cheese out and freeze portions for later. Simply add the cheese just before you finally serve the recipe.

This recipe is one of those delicious recipes using beef that some chefs believe benefits from being prepared the day before. If you want to find some other tasty ways to cook beef, why not search out a few recipes for a barbecue. If you are looking a wider variety of recipes, there are plenty of web sites which provide a free recipe collection online that will surely satisfy your needs.

So is beef good for us? here are some concrete nutrition facts for you:

1/. Just a 3 ounce portion of beef can give you over a tenth of your necessary daily need of phosphorus, vitamin b6, protein, vitamin b12, zinc, iron and niacin.

2/. Many people believe that if you want to lose weight, you should steer clear of beef. A little research shows us that this is not the case, the truth is that the 80g offering of quality beef that many experts prescribe as a healthy daily limit, is in actuality merely 10% of the regular 2000 calories daily diet target.

3/. Some folk hold the view that one should keep away from beef as they think it possesses increased levels of saturated fat. Although this might have been true a few years ago, lean beef produced at the moment is far less fatty than it was years ago, and over 50% of the fats found in modern beef are monounsaturated fats which are widely considered to be more ‘heart friendly’ than other fats.

4/. The zinc that is in lean beef is vital for human development, improves the body’s immune system, helps heal wounds, moderates hunger and even affects your ability to experience taste.

5/. If you think about it objectively, quality beef is just about as healthful as expensive multi-vitamin pills as it is a top notch provider of phosphorus, vitamin b6, protein, vitamin b12 and zinc.

6/. Lean beef is rich in Vitamin b6 and vitamin b12, which are believed by scientists to assist in preventing strokes and coronary disease and also aid the body to make erythrocytes.

7/. If we analyse the nutrional benefits of 100 grams of beef (raw weight), it has:

* 198 calories
* 319mg of Potassium.
* 1.84mg of Iron
* 20.71g of Protein.
* 12.15g of fat.
* 16mg of Calcium.
* 3.8mg of Zinc.

I hope this article has left you with a better understanding of the pros and cons of eating beef, and hopefully given you a flavorful new recipe for your recipe book.

Most would just grab a pinch of salt and voila. They feel that this move is enough to complete the taste of the soup.
However, chefs can use better alternatives for improving the taste of soup, without using excessive salt.
First and foremost, reflect on the ingredients of the soup. Most of the time, veggies, herbs and bones are starting base for a good carab or asian fish soup.
If you want to reduce or increase the flavor of the soup – especially crab soup, you have to taste it between stirring.

Its up to you really.
Feel free to reduce/increase the amount of soup according to your taste.
If you’re trying to find that extra something that will make your soup stand out, add some wine, lemon or lim juice.
You can also spike it with vinegar. If you want more flavor to the meat, make sure that you sauté it in the pot.
You can add more oil or butter to the pot. You can also toss in chopped garlic and onion.

Take the time to sauté all the ingredients and let them seep in with one another.
If you are cooking stew and it tastes slightly burnt, you can remedy it by pouring a bit of milk to balance the taste out.
You can use ice cubes to get fat out of soups and stews if you simply place a few in the kettle and keep stirring.
The fat will attach to the ice cubes. Make sure to discard them before they completely melt.
Have a paper towel nearby so you can reach for it as you skim your way across the top.

Finally, when you are reheating your soup, you must always use a double boiler.
In that way, the soup doesn’t lose its flavor because the hot water is responsible for securing all the ingredients.
A nice idea is to server some scallops with the soup.
There was this story about a traveler who asked a man and wife if he could stay in their house for the night.
He told them he could prepare the best stew they have ever ate by using just a rock. Now this was a natural rock.
The stew he ended up cooking for the man and the wife ended up to be tasty because the homeowners provided him with the ingredients he needed to come up with the stew.

The coconut lovers are surely going to enjoy these great cupcake coconut recipes. One of the easiest recipes for coconut cup cakes is as follows.

Simple Coconut Cupcake
The ingredients required for this coconut cupcake are four eggs, 1 ¾ cup sugar, 1 cup floor, 1 cup oil, 1 cup thinly shredded coconut and 1 tsp lemon juice. Firstly, you have to beat the eggs and sugar together. Then, you add lemon juice, oil and flour to this mixture and beat vigorously. Afterwards, fold coconut in this mixture. Pour the mixture into the paper cups and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Coconut Cupcakes
This coconut cup cakes takes a bit more effort… but is worth it.

The ingredients required for these coconut cupcakes are 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 12 tbsp of softened, unsalted butter, 1 cup sugar, 3 large lightly beaten eggs, 1/2 cup of unsweetened canned coconut milk, 1 cup flaked unsweetened coconut and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. You start off by preheating the oven at 350F. Take 16 medium sized muffin cups and grease them lightly. Then coat them with flour and take out the excess flour. Alternatively, these cups can be lined with cupcake liners as well. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder on a wax paper and keep it aside.

Beat butter with a beater at medium speed till it becomes lighter in colour. Then, add sugar steadily and beat the mixture again at medium speed to get a light texture and color. Add the lightly beaten eggs, one tablespoon at a time and beat till the mixture becomes shiny and smooth. Then add flour and coconut milk alternately and keep beating the mixture after every addition. Add the vanilla extract and stir in the coconut flakes. Fill the cup with the batter and bake for about 20 minutes. Let the pan cool for ten minutes and then remove the cup cakes from the pan.

Coconut Cupcakes with a Surprise Ingredient
This coconut cup cake recipe is very easy to make and tastes delicious. And the sour cream is the surprise.

The ingredients include one cup sugar, one cup sour cream, one egg, two cups flour, half tsp soda, one tsp vanilla, half tsp salt, two tsp baking powder and half cup shredded coconut. Firstly, you need to beat egg, sour cream and sugar for one minute. Sift the flour with salt, soda and baking powder and add it to the beaten mixture. Add vanilla and beat again for about two minutes. Fold in the coconut into this mixture. Pour the mixture into paper wrappers of cup cakes. Bake these coconut cupcakes for about 20 to 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

We’ve sliced up pieces of the Thanksgiving turkey breast meat for sandwiches but have way too much, again. Faced with heaps of white meat, I had to come up with something that I could make with all that turkey. The problem facing most people when it comes to their leftover turkey is they get tired of it after a few days. Yes, I freeze some, but it’s always best fresh, don’t you think? Something different I’m going to try is a Turkey Vegetable Skillet. Adding a lot of green beans and carrots I think will make this dish, not only healthy, but really colorful and tasty. And, since my kids, like most, like carrots and green beans, they shouldn’t be disappointed to be eating yet another leftover turkey dish.

I always have a store bought bottle of teriyaki in my refrigerator. I’m hooked on it and am constantly searching for recipes that use teriyaki. When I took a look at the ingredients that make up teriyaki, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I could easily make my own homemade teriyaki sauce, and adjust the ingredients as I pleased to suit my own taste. Once I developed my own recipe for teriyaki sauce, I had to revisit some of my classic recipes so I could try out my new discovery. What wonderful results I got with my new homemade teriyaki! My classic chicken skillet dinner was turned into a new and improved chicken and homemade teriyaki skillet. Playing with the amount of ginger, brown sugar, and vinegar, really made a difference in the unique taste of this family favorite. Using store bought teriyaki makes a good chicken dish, but homemade teriyaki makes a GREAT chicken dish.

Looking for a place in Fort Worth where you can get a decent priced dinner (obviously will probably be more expensive in this part of town) that is excellent? Check out this list of
restaurants in Fort Worth for possible leads:

Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House
(817) 877-3999
812 Main St
Fort Worth, TX 76102

Reata Restaurant
(817) 336-1009
310 Houston St
Fort Worth, TX 76102

Garcia’s Joe T Mexican Restaurant
(817) 626-4356
2201 N Commerce St
Fort Worth, TX 76164

Lonesome Dove Western Bistro
(817) 740-8810
2406 N Main St
Fort Worth, TX 76164

Bistro Louise Inc
(817) 922-9244
2900 S Hulen St Ste 40
Fort Worth, TX 76109

Michael’s Restaurant
(817) 877-3413
3413 W 7th St
Fort Worth, TX 76107

Ancho Chile Bar
(817) 877-3413
3413 W 7th St
Fort Worth, TX 76107

Saint-Emilion Restaurant Inc
(817) 737-2781
3617 W 7th St
Fort Worth, TX 76107

Texas De Brazil Restaurant
(817) 882-9500
101 N Houston St
Fort Worth, TX 76102

Angelo’s Barbecue
(817) 332-0357
2533 White Settlement Rd
Fort Worth, TX 76107

Cafe Aspen
(817) 738-0838
6103 Camp Bowie Blvd
Fort Worth, TX 76116

I, like many people, have fallen victim to the allure of crispy chicken in a bucket. Tasty, yes; convenient, yes; inexpensive, no. Nutritiously speaking, I’d say preparing your own crispy chicken has to be far better for your waistline and arteries than eating commercially prepared chicken. That said, you want to know how to make a fabulous crispy chicken? I have successfully substituted my yen for crispy bucket chicken by making an Oven-Fried Cornflake Chicken instead. Now, every time my family gets that “gotta have bucket chicken” glaze come over their eyes, I can easily make a wonderful crispy chicken dinner, at a fraction of the cost. We all win!

I know a lot of people who think that serving baked beans out of a can is just fine. And in some cases canned baked beans are adequate. But my family LOVES their baked beans, so canned isn’t good enough. I’ve found the perfect flavor combinations when I make my Baked Beans With Tomatoes that just aren’t there with other recipes, and certainly not in a can. This is a very traditional recipe, with all the classic ingredients like molasses, mustard, and bacon. Using navy beans or northern beans gives this dish a slightly different appearance than what you find in other recipes or in the canned variety. You won’t find a better recipe for homemade baked beans. This dish is meant to impress!

I grew up in Florida and just love oranges. We had 3 orange trees growing in the back yard so we were never in short supply. During those years, we learned to enjoy oranges in many ways besides just good old juice or jelly. Oranges belong to the group of citrus fruits, but they differ from both lemons and grapefruit in that they contain more sugar and less acid. Probably no citrus fruit is used so extensively as oranges. Because of their refreshing sub acid flavor, they are much eaten in their fresh state, both alone and in combination with other foods in numerous salads and desserts.

Here are some of my favorite orange recipes, including one for the holidays:

ORANGE PIE

Take half a dozen Seville oranges, chip them very fine as you would do for preserving, make a little hole in the top, and scope out all the meat, as you would do an apple, you must boil them whilst they are tender, and shift them two or three times to take off the bitter taste; take six or eight apples, according as they are in bigness, pare and slice them, and put to them part of the pulp of your oranges, and pick out the strings and pippins, put to them half a pound of fine powder sugar, so boil it up over a slow fire, as you would do for puffs, and fill your oranges with it; they must be baked in a deep delft dish with no paste under them; when you put them into your dish put under them three quarters of a pound of fine powder sugar, put in as much water as will wet your sugar, and put your oranges with the open side uppermost; it will take about an hour and half baking in a slow oven; lie over them a light puff-paste; when you dish it up take off the lid, and turn the oranges in the pie, cut the lid in snippets, and set them at an equal distance, to serve it up.

ORANGE CREAM

Take two Seville oranges and peel them very thin, put the peel into a pint of fair water, and let it lie for an hour or two; take four eggs, and beat them very well, put to them the juice of three or four oranges, according as they are in goodness, and sweeten them with double refined sugar to your taste, mix the water and sugar together, and strain them through a fine cloth into your tankard, and set it over the fire as you did the lemon cream, and put it into your glasses for use.

ORANGE ALE

Take forty Seville oranges, pare and cut them in slices, the best colored Seville you can get, put them all with the juice and seeds into half a hogshead of ale; when it is tuned up and working, put in the oranges, and at the same time a pound and a half of raisins of the sun stoned; when it has done working close up the bung, and it will be ready to drink in a month.

ORANGE BRANDY

Take a quart of brandy, the peels of eight oranges thin pared, keep them in the brandy forty-eight hours in a close pitcher, then take three pints of water, put into it three quarters of a pound of loaf sugar, boil it till half be consumed, and let it stand till cold, then mix it with the brandy.

ORANGE WINE

Take six gallons of water and fifteen pounds of powder sugar, the whites of six eggs well beaten, boil them three quarters of an hour, and skim them while any skim will rise; when it is cold enough for working, put to it six ounces of the syrup of citron or lemons, and six spoonfuls of yeast, beat the syrup and yeast well together, and put in the peel and juice of fifty oranges, work it two days and a night, then tun it up into a barrel, so bottle it at three or four months old. Get personalized wine gifts here.

ORANGE FLOAT

Heat one quart of water, the juice of two lemons, and one and one half cupfuls of sugar. When boiling, stir into it four tablespoonfuls of cornstarch rubbed smooth in a very little water. Cook until the whole is thickened and clear. When cool, stir into the mixture five nice oranges which have been sliced, and freed from seeds and all the white portions. Meringue, and serve cold.

ORANGE EGG NOG (For the Holiday Spirit in You!)

Take 2 oranges, 1/4 c. cream, 1/4 c. milk, 1 egg and 1 Tb. sugar. Mix the cream, milk, egg, and sugar, beat well with an egg beater, and continue beating while adding the juice of the oranges. Serve in a glass over crushed ice.

Oranges are so versatile, there is even a home beer out, Blue Moon, that has hints of orange in the brew. I hope that you will enjoy these orange recipes and benefit not only from good tasting, tangy foods, but also get your daily dose of Vitamin C in the process!