Good Eating | Easy To Cook Delicious Food Recipes

Broiled Liver Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 07:12:00 -0700

Broiled Liver

Broiled liver

Learn How to Cook Braised Beef

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:42:00 -0700

Get the Best Braised Beef Recipe You Can Get in the Town

Braised Beef

Braised Beef Recipe

1 serving—500 calories

4 pounds eye of the round of beef

1 tablespoon lard

2 slices bacon

1 medium onion

1 stalk celery

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 small carrot, chopped

2 tablespoons dried mushrooms

1 cup dry red wine

2 cups beef bouillon

Salt and pepper to taste

Soak mushrooms in cold water for 30 minutes. Chop bacon and vegetables fine.

Place in large pot with meat, lard and wine and cook until wine has evaporated and meat and vegetables are well browned. Add bouillon, cover tightly, simmer 2 hours or until meat is tender. Season. Serves 8

Braised beef

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:22:00 -0700

Braised beef

1 serving—500 calories

4 pounds eye of the round of beef

1 tablespoon lard

2 slices bacon

1 medium onion

1 stalk celery

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 small carrot, chopped

2 tablespoons dried mushrooms

1 cup dry red wine

2 cups beef bouillon

Salt and pepper to taste

Soak mushrooms in cold water for 30 minutes. Chop bacon and vegetables fine.

Braised beef

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:21:00 -0700

Braised beef

1 serving—500 calories

4 pounds eye of the round of beef

1 tablespoon lard

2 slices bacon

1 medium onion

1 stalk celery

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 small carrot, chopped

2 tablespoons dried mushrooms

1 cup dry red wine

2 cups beef bouillon

Salt and pepper to taste

Soak mushrooms in cold water for 30 minutes. Chop bacon and vegetables fine.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:12:00 -0700

Braised beef

1 serving—500 calories

4 pounds eye of the round of beef

1 tablespoon lard

2 slices bacon

1 medium onion

1 stalk celery

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 small carrot, chopped

2 tablespoons dried mushrooms

1 cup dry red wine

2 cups beef bouillon

Salt and pepper to taste

Soak mushrooms in cold water for 30 minutes. Chop bacon and vegetables fine.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:12:00 -0700

Braised beef

1 serving—500 calories

4 pounds eye of the round of beef

1 tablespoon lard

2 slices bacon

1 medium onion

1 stalk celery

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 small carrot, chopped

2 tablespoons dried mushrooms

1 cup dry red wine

2 cups beef bouillon

Salt and pepper to taste

Soak mushrooms in cold water for 30 minutes. Chop bacon and vegetables fine.

Ever Tasted Broiled Liver Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:33:00 -0700

Sprinkle one side of liver with salt and pepper. Broil close to high heat until brown on one side (2-3 minutes), turn, sprinkle with salt and pepper again and broil until second side is browned. If you have never tried a liver slightly rare, experiment by having your butcher cut it thick enough so that with quick cooking it cannot cook to a gray turn all the way through. It will never be leathery if you teach yourself to like eating liver this way.

Do you know ¼ Pound Broiled Liver —236 Calories

Check Out for Some Amazing Broiled Liver Photos....

Traditional Irish Soups Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 06:43:00 -0800

I have found when any visitors I have come to Ireland, they always ask me for some of my Irish Soup Recipes. In particular, they seem very interested in the very traditional Irish Soup recipes. There are in my opinion three very traditional soups that are well known and popular In Ireland. These are as follows:

Irish Potato Soup Recipes
Irish Vegetable Soup Recipes
Irish Chicken Soup Recipes

As any society develops so does their food culture but in my opinion not everything should be changed, and these soups are in that bracket for me. The onslaught of cookery programs on TV has almost forced chefs to find their own twist even with a simple soup. Frequently these day creams are added and blended with cream then drizzled on top to add effects, and lots of sprinkling with parsley seems to be a standard. I like the taste and I like natural traditional tastes so I have added nothing fancy to these traditional Irish soup recipes so I hope you try them out and I hope you enjoy the wholesome taste.

Irish Potato Soup

Ingredients

5 large potatoes, 2 pints of vegetable stock, 1 onion, 1 turnip, 1 carrot, 2 celery sticks
1/2 pint of milk (or cream) 1 ounce of butter, 1 tablespoon of tapioca.

How To Cook

Clean and peel the potatoes and then thinly slice. Melt the butter in the saucepan and add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil.

Dice the onion, turnip, carrot and celery and add along with salt and pepper. Cook for a further 30 minutes.
Blend the soup and return to the saucepan. Add the tapioca and return to the heat for around 15 minutes.

Add the cream and stir in slowly. You should now have a very tasty Irish Potato Soup

Irish Vegetable Soup

Ingredients
4 pints of vegetable stock, 2 onions, 1 carrot, 1 parsnip, 2 sticks of celery, 1/2lb of barley, 2 lbs of dried peas, 1 small turnip, salt and pepper to season

How To Cook
Dice all the vegetables. Put the stock into a saucepan and boil and then add in the vegetables, Cook the vegetables until they go soft and add salt and pepper to taste.

You can sprinkle with either chopped parsley or chopped thyme for appearance.

Irish Chicken Soup

Ingredients

1 chicken carcass
1 medium sized onion
1 pint/600ml of milk
1 chicken stock cube
4 tablespoons of boiling water
4 tablespoons of cold water
1 tablespoon of cornflour
A pinch of nutmeg
100g/4ox chopped chicken
1 Bay leaf
1 clove

Cooking Method

Break up the carcass and put into the saucepan and then put in a bay leaf and a clove. Dice an onion and add this. Dissolve a stock cube with boiling water in a small jug and add this and allow simmering for 20 minutes.
Strain and return to the saucepan. Then mix the cornflour with cold water to make a smooth paste and add to the saucepan. Bring to the boil and it should by now have thickened. Finally add nutmeg and the chopped chicken and simmer for about 30 minutes with the lid on. Finally add salt and pepper to taste.

I hope you enjoy giving these a try. They are best eaten with Irish wheaten bread.

Loss Your Weight Just By a Healthy Weight Loss Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 06:40:00 -0800

Many people fail to achieve their weight loss goals because they see weight loss as a tedious boring process that forces them to eat bland food. For weight loss to be effective you need to be creative about your diet, and finding delicious soup diets for weight loss is a way to do this. The road to losing weight shouldn't be a dark and dreary one because if you stick to bland food items, the time will come when your interest will fade away and you won't be able to sustain your plan. Embarking on a weight loss program doesn't mean you have to say goodbye to everything that tastes good, because there are ways to cook low-calorie diet food in a manner that's delicious and appealing to the palate.

Soup diets are very common these days, because soup is a very effective way to satiate hunger without giving you all the unnecessary calories and fat. Soup is liquid-based, and liquid tends to work in filling up your stomach and tricking you into thinking that you're already full. This is the same principle that works for the weight loss tip of drinking a lot of water. There are times when we think we're hungry and we end up eating too much when in fact, we're only thirsty. Drinking water before a meal works in the same way as eating soup before a meal - it satiates hunger and makes us eat less of the meal in front of us. Just because soup can help you lose weight doesn't mean it has to taste bland. There are several soup diets for weight loss that have been formulated with taste in mind.

Soup diets for weight loss will only work if these diets are able to find the balance between low calories and appetizing taste. Naturally a full cream soup full of potatoes and seasoning will taste very delicious, but it's not very effective in helping people with their goals. A diet soup recipe will substitute the full cream with skim milk, and use something like asparagus or celery as a substitute to potatoes, which are very high in carbohydrates. Of course it won't taste the same, but this only illustrates a way to make a diet soup appetizing without making it full of calories. All it takes is a little creativity and a lot of research.

When you choose soups to add to your diet, concentrate on the soups that are rich in vegetables. You have to note that not all vegetables are the same either, and you have to avoid starchy vegetables like corn and potatoes as much as possible. You should also avoid soups that are cream-based, and instead concentrate on clear or even tomato-based soups. In making your soup you should also avoid putting too much seasoning, because while this adds to the taste, adding too much will be counterproductive to your diet. You'll be surprised how filling soup can be, so try it out and see amazing weight loss results.

Enjoy Soup a Regular Part of Your Daily Diet

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 06:35:00 -0800

Enjoy As a child, when I was unwell or laid up in bed with the cold virus, my mother would insist that I had a bowl of warm thick nutritious soup. It is a great comfort food and maybe it was a placebo effect but I always seem to feel better after a bowl of warm soup. I particularly like having soups on cold bleak winter days. The great thing about soup is that you can make it with whatever food you have in your kitchen and that includes left overs. To make soups with good flavour make sure you have excellent soup stock.

If you are keen to make great soups, you will find thousands of recipes on the Internet or on the bookshelves. There is no great need to have special equipment to make great soups. A chopping board, a sharp knife and a pan is all you need sometimes. A blender will be a useful equipment to get the consistency of your choice.

Soup is international and the taste and ingredients vary. In the Far East lentils are used and although they have different names, it is basically a soup. With globalisation, we are now fortunate to enjoy all these fabulous soups and when making homemade soups, we can now continue to add new items from overseas.

Health experts tell us, we should have five portions of fruits and vegetables a day. Soup is an excellent way to reach your daily target. Fruits with high carbohydrate and fructose level are not the best choice for many. Vegetables, beans, nuts and lentils are recommended by all health professionals and they are the natural choice for soups. Most children are not keen to eat vegetables especially broccoli and other brain foods. In soups, you can add portions of these healthy food items and liquidise the end product and children will have no idea they are enjoying foods they consider yucky.

In the stores today are various soup makers. Some are very expensive but the price has dropped since Cuisinart, a company renown for reliability, joined the market. Now all you need to do is chop up your food items, add your stock to your soup maker and leave it in the soup maker and once completed, you can use the blender option to give your soup the consistency you want. The soup makers available in the shops will blend, cook and maker soup, and the entire process takes about one hour. If time is at a premium, then a soup maker is an excellent choice. It is also a wonderful small equipment in your kitchen if you have small children.

Red Tomato and Pepper Soup Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 06:33:00 -0800

Soup is a food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water or other liquid. A basic tomato soup is simply tomatoes cooked together with celery, onions and carrots for flavoring. Other seasonings may be added, including salt, pepper, sugar, garlic and green pepper, and milk may be used to create cream of tomato soup.

Whether prepared from a can or homemade, tomato soup is a source of vitamin C, vitamin A and iron.

Canned tomato soup is low in calories but high in salt. One cup has 85 calories and 695mg of sodium. This represents 28 percent of the recommended daily value for salt, based on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet. You'll receive 17g of carbohydrates, which includes 6g of sugars and no dietary fiber.

With only 2g of total fat, tomato soup provides 2 percent of the daily value for total fat. It contains no cholesterol, 0.36mg of saturated fat and 1.4mg of the healthier unsaturated fats.Here is a basic homemade tomato and red pepper soup that is simple and less costly to prepare.

Ingredients:

1 chicken stock
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil- to garnish
Extra virgin olive oil-to garnish
600g ripe tomatoes- quartered
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion- chopped
2 large red peppers, seeds removed and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic- chopped

METHOD

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.
2. Saute the onion, peppers and garlic for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the fresh tomatoes and cook for another 3 minutes.
4 Add the tinned tomatoes, the stock and a cup of water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
6. Puree the soup in batches in a food processor or with a hand-held blender.
7. Strain through a coarse sieve and add a little extra stock.
8. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve hot, and garnished with the basil and a of drizzle extra olive oil.

How to Serve:

1. Roasting the vegetables gives the soup a delicious flavor.
2. Halve the onions, tomatoes and peppers, place them on a lined baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil and roast at 200ºC in oven for 60 minutes, turning the onions and peppers once before using them in the preparation of soup.

Yummy......Chicken Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 06:30:00 -0800

They say chicken soup is good for the soul, but what about the body?

Let's take a look at chicken soup as a medicinal remedy for the common cold. Was Grandma right, if you eat chicken soup when you're fighting the common cold, will it help?

The chicken soup folklore has been around as long as people have, handed down generation to generation, along with the favorite chicken soup family recipe. The medicinal claims have never been proven, but from the time of the ancient Greeks, it has been used religiously to lessen the affects of a cold or the flu.

The ingredients in chicken soup include chicken of course, carrots, celery, water or broth and spices, always including garlic. The soup is served steaming hot, which is where I believe one of the medicinal claims stems from. Let's face it; whenever you're feeling stuffy, drinking anything that is steaming hot helps to open up the sinuses, which immediately helps you to breathe better, thus you begin to feel better.

If we take a closer look at the ingredients of chicken soup, one in particular stands out for its antioxidant benefits. Garlic is considered by herbalists to be one of the most useful herbs for medicinal purposes. Many cultures have used garlic for centuries in medicines, as it is a known antioxidant, used to treat many respiratory ailments including hoarseness, coughs and the common cold. The main compound in garlic, illustration has antibiotic qualities used in some cultures to treat whooping cough, flu and other viral and bacterial diseases.
Anyway you look at it, a steaming bowl of hot chicken soup when you're feeling under the weather can't hurt, and if you add garlic to your recipe, it may help.

The recipes below should be individualized, use the ingredients that you and your family like, don't like carrots? Use turnips instead. If your family is partial to peas, add peas. Use rice instead of pasta, whatever suits your taste. Just be sure to add the garlic, as stated above, its medicinal attributes make it a great addition to any soup.

Basic Soup Recipe

Chicken broth
1 3 lb chicken, 3 quarts of water
3 large Carrots
3 stalks of Celery
Onion Salt and pepper to taste 1 bay leaf Fresh chopped basil.

Put all the ingredients in a large stock pot and simmer for 3 hours, skimming the surface often. Remove the chicken, remove meat from the bones, and put aside. Discard vegetables, and chill broth. After broth as chilled for a while, remove fat from the top. You are now ready to use broth in your soup.

Chicken Soup

2 cups chopped cooked chicken
8 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Carrots, chopped
Celery, coarsely chopped
Diced garlic to taste
Any small pasta

Simmer until carrots and celery are soft and pasta is cooked, about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Cook Green Split Pea Soup with Ham

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 06:26:00 -0800

There are many ways of preparing this soup and you can use split green peas or yellow ones, depending which you prefer, or which you have in your store cupboard. Personally I prefer the green ones and use the yellow ones to make fava, which is a dip rather like hummus.

You can leave the soup chunky or puree it until it is thick and smooth; it is entirely up to you. I like to add cumin seeds and coriander seeds which have been dry-fried to bring out their flavor and a dried red chili, but you don't have to use these things.

If you do want a spicier soup than usual, use a teaspoon of coriander seeds and 2 of cumin seeds, dry-fry them for a minute or two until they release their aroma and add them to the soup when you add the water. The dried crumbled red chili pepper can also be added at this time. This recipe is for the traditional green split pea soup with ham. I hope you like it!

Ingredients

750 gr of ham hock or knuckle, washed and rinsed
500 gr green split peas, cleaned to remove any dirt or grit
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, trimmed and halved
4 medium carrots, cleaned and thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, halved
2 large sprigs of thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
8 sprigs of parsley either curly or flat-leaved
2 bay leaves, torn but still intact
10 black peppercorns
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
4-6 allspice berries (optional)
sprigs of parsley to decorate each bowl if desired

Method

Put the ham hock or knuckle and peas in a large pan and cover with 2½ liters of water A and bring to the boil. Remove any scum which comes to the surface.

You can either fry the onion, garlic, and carrots gently in olive oil, or simply add them to the pan after the scum has been removed along with the herbs and spices.

Partially cover the pan and cook, simmering, for an hour and a half.

Check that the peas are cooked and if necessary cook for half and hour more with the lid on firmly.

When the soup ingredients are cooked, remove the ham hock and allow it to cool before removing the skin and then flake the meat from the bone with a fork. Return this to the pan and mix well, then blend the soup in batches until it is smooth.

Reheat the soup and serve in warm bowls and decorate with parsley sprigs if using. Bon appetit!

Delicious Cheese Soup Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 06:23:00 -0800

Soup is one of my favorite foods. I love soups that have cooked slowly for hours but I also enjoy soups that I can throw together in a hurry and have a delicious bowl of hot soup in minutes. Here are some very tasty, easy soup recipes.

BEEFY BROCCOLI & CHEESE SOUP

2 cups chicken broth
1 pkg (10-oz) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
1/4 to 1/2 lb ground beef
1 cup milk
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
4-oz sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 tsp oregano
salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste
hot pepper sauce to taste, optional

Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan; add broccoli and onions. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes or until the broccoli is tender.

While the above cooks, brown the ground beef in a small skillet and drain well. Rinse with hot water to rid of excess fat and drain in a colander.

Gradually stir the flour into the milk in a small bowl until well blended. Slowly stir into the broccoli mixture, add the drained beef and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened and bubbly.

Add the shredded cheese, oregano, salt, pepper, and hot sauce if using.

Yield: 4 to 5 servings

HOMEMADE CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP

6 tbsp butter
1 lb fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 tbsp cornstarch
4 cups beef bouillon
Dash of freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
1 1/2 cups cream

Melt butter in a large saucepan; add the onion and cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent, stirring to keep from burning. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Blend the cornstarch into the mixture until well coated. Slowly stir in the bouillon while stirring constantly. Add the cream and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the pepper and nutmeg.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

BEEFY BARLEY SOUP

1 lb boneless beef sirloin, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tbsp dried basil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
1 cup quick-cooking barley
1 can (14 1/2-oz) diced tomatoes with basil, oregano, and garlic (Italian-style)
1 cup peeled baby carrots sliced diagonally
1 cup low-sodium beef broth (or vegetable broth, if you prefer)
3 cups water
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley for garnish, if desired

In a pie plate combine the basil, flour, salt, and pepper; dredge meat to coat.

Heat the canola oil over medium-high heat in a 4 to 5-quart Dutch oven; add the steak and cook until browned all over. Stir in any remaining flour mixture and continue stirring to avoid scorching. Stir in the tomatoes, including the juice, barley, carrots, broth, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the carrots and meat are tender.

Yield: 4 servings

Note: Top each serving with a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley leaves for garnish, if desired.

Enjoy!

Spanish Soup Recipe : Gazpacho Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 06:20:00 -0800

Gazpacho originated in southern Spain. It is a cold soup and requires no cooking. Moreover, it is cholesterol free, low in calories and high in vitamin C.

The main ingredient of Gazpacho is tomato, which grows in abundance in southern Spain. But as you might imagine, being Spanish in origin, it also contains onions, garlic and olive oil. Again, these are readily available and, of course, inexpensive.

Tomatoes provide the sweetness, as well has being high in vitamin C, and paprika gives the soup a bit of spice.

The ingredients are:

25 g fresh breadcrumbs

2-3 tablespoons virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon paprika

225 g tomatoes

3 spring onions

small clove of garlic

1/4 of a large cucumber

1/2 red pepper

1/2 yellow pepper

Juice of a lime

450ml tomato juice

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method: Boil 150 ml water and add to it the breadcrumbs, oil and paprika in a bowl. Remove the skins from the tomatoes by dipping them in hot water. Cut the tomatoes in half so that you can remove and discard the seeds. Then chop the flesh. Trim and dice the spring onions, and peel the garlic and cucumber. The peppers should also be diced. Keep back some of the diced vegetables to place in the middle of the soup when it is ready to be served.

Blend together until fairly smooth the mixture of breadcrumbs, cucumber, peppers, onions and garlic. Stir in the lime juice. Then add this mixture to the tomato juice and chopped tomatoes, season and chill for at least an hour.

There are different ways of making Gazpacho and this is likely to vary from region to region. I suspect this recipe is quite a modern variation on traditional ones as I have had Gazpacho in Marbella on the south coast of Spain and I am certain there was no bread in it. Nevertheless, this is a tasty, healthy and inexpensive dish with plenty of vitamin C, not only from the tomatoes but the peppers too. Red and yellow peppers contain four times as much vitamin C as oranges. Garlic is good for many things including the immune system and circulation, infections and so on.

As regards where the word Gazpacho comes from, this is more vague. I once read it was to do with "edible treasures" but apparently it comes from the pre-Roman Mozarab word caspa, which means "fragments" or "flakes", as in small pieces of bread.

Two Tips That Can Make Your Soup Amazing

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 06:15:00 -0800

Really good soups all have two things in common flavor, and that special something taste they do not normally find in soup.

I have to share with you two things that I do on my budget to make my soups outstanding. I believe that the freshest ingredients on sale at my local grocery store help make a great soup but, sometimes my soups are a combination of whatever is leftover at the end of the week.

The base, I like to slow cook my soups in my slow cooker. The base of any soup can be made with water. Where I live the water has a terrible taste and must be filtered. A few months ago I started keeping the liquid I used to cook pork roasts and chicken in my slow cooker. I was not sure at the time what I would do with this liquid so I froze it in 2 cup containers. Soon after I began taking these frozen 2 cup portions and putting them in my slow cooker as the base liquid. The flavor given by the frozen broth was amazing. I could use the same ingredients from one soup but change the flavor simply by going from a chicken based frozen broth to a pork frozen broth. The best part is there was no additional expense of having to purchase broth from my grocery store. The next best part is, all the extra work I had to do was simply pour the broth into containers. Wait for the broth to freeze then pop them out of the container and put the frozen pucks in a freezer bag until such time as I needed one.

The second important flavor enhancer that I like to use is the BBQ. My preference for BBQ is charcoal. The only part that annoys me about charcoal is the wasted charcoal left over that is still hot and will continue to give off heat and flavor until it turns to ash.

After the main course has finished cooking and removed from the grill I now fill the grill with vegetables I can use in future soups. Tomatoes that have been sitting on your grill will enhance the flavor of a roasted tomato soup with that smokey goodness. Celery, carrots, corn, onion, garlic and squash all absorb the flavor of your grill and can be added to your soup. There really is not any kind of vegetable or meat when added to the grill after cooking your main dish that will not enhance the flavor of your next soup.

Grilling your vegetables this way has other benefits. The vegetables cook slowly while you are enjoying your fantastic meal. The hardest part is remembering to get them off the grill before you go to sleep for the evening.

Rick and his wife have been able to reduce their grocery budget by almost 50% since they started this challenge in 2010. Their 15 years of grocery shopping for the family has led them to start a blog with very creative tips to using leftovers to save money. There are great tips about meal planning, cooking utensils, recipes, and grocery lists.

You can follow their blog, post comments and find our latest book 60+ Tips To Feed A Family Of 4 With Less Than $100 A Week.

Do you Think Energy Drinks Really Works?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 06:07:00 -0800

What are "Energy Drinks"?

Energy drinks are non-alcoholic beverages with the addition of so-called 'energy enhancing' ingredients. They claim to increase alertness and improve mental and physical performance. There are different variety of brands that are mainly available at supermarkets, convenience stores, vending machines, and even bars.

These drinks contain important amounts of caffeine and sugar. Caffeine fuels most energy drinks "boost".
The other ingredients are generally herbs (botanicals), amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. Some herbal ingredients commonly found in energy drinks are taurine, guarana, green tea and ginseng. Research on these ingredients is ongoing, but evidence of health benefits is limited at this time. Guarana contains caffeine. Taurine is an amino acid naturally found in meat and fish with no special benefits. Green tea extract contains caffeine. Studies of ginseng have not shown any benefits. Experts recommend herbal ingredients to be consumed in moderation, if at all, until we have more information about their safety.

Are Energy Drinks Dangerous?

People definitely vary in their sensitivity to caffeine. Most experts agree that consuming 300 mg of caffeine (about three cups of coffee) per day is fine for most adults. However, there are important differences between a cup of coffee and a can of energy drink. The first is that a lot of energy drinks contain at least twice the amount of caffeine in a typical cup of coffee. For example, Facedrink has three times the caffeine as a cup of coffee. The second is that while your average Joe drinks his coffee over a newspaper, your average rock star chugs his can over two more cans of Rockstar.

Moreover, energy drink labels do not include the caffeine amount naturally found in some of the herbal or tea ingredients. Thus, when more than one can is consumed in a day, it's easy to drink too much caffeine and as you can imagine anything in high doses is bad for you.

What are the Side Effects of Energy Drinks?

Although energy drinks provide an initial jolt and increase alertness, there are evident down sides to high caffeine and sugar consumption. If you regularly consume large volumes of energy drinks, you may experience increased blood pressure, heart palpitations, dehydration, sleeplessness, irritability and increased urination. The combination of heart palpitations and high blood pressure has also been proven to cause anxiety.
A Regular 16 ounce can has 50 to 60 grams, or 13 to 15 teaspoons of sugar! Sugar just adds calories, and unnecessary calorie intake may result in weight gain. In addition, research shows that a high sugar intake may make it more difficult for the body to lose weight.

Also, some energy "shots" contain an excess amount of niacin (Vitamin B3). A recommended daily intake of niacin is 14 mg for women and 16 mg for men. Energy shots contain 30 mg in one 2-ounce serving. Niacin intake at about 35 mg or above may cause flushing, and higher doses may cause adverse health problems.
Caffeine and Adolescents

Children have no need for caffeine in their diets. Parents must avoid giving energy or other caffeinated drinks to children. Students can consume energy drinks to stay up late or study, but they always neglect to notice the total amount of caffeine they get in a day. Studies have clearly shown that high caffeine intake in adolescents can result in serious difficulty sleeping and tiredness in the morning, as well as the previously mentioned side effects. Adolescents should understand that energy drinks are no substitute for sleep and rest. Moreover, it is important for teens and their parents to control caffeine consumption and look for healthier options for staying energized, such as getting adequate rest and physical activity.

Do Not Mix Energy Drinks and Alcohol

Never mix alcohol with energy drinks. When these two beverages are consumed together it greatly increases the possibility of dehydration and reduces a person's ability to realize they are intoxicated. Indeed, the energy drink masks the effects of alcohol therefore this combination has adverse health effects and inhibits good decision-making.

What's a Better Way to Feel Energized?

• Eat well. Eat a balanced diet; chances are your energy levels will not need any extra boost!
• Get plenty of sleep. When your body gets the rest it needs, you're less likely to feel drowsy during the day. Most teens need 8 to 9 hours of sleep each night and most adults need 7 to 8 hours. You will be more alert and concentrate better with adequate sleep.
• Just drink water to stay hydrated. Dehydration is going to make you feel weak and it is dangerous for your health.
• Move it. When you feel yourself growing tired while studying or working, go for a 10-minute walk or do some exercises to make you more alert. It's known to all that regular physical activities will also improve your energy level. Children need 50 minutes of physical activity each day and adults need at least 20 minutes.
• Drink coffee and/or tea in moderation. Coffee and tea both contain caffeine. You can try having just one 8-ounce cup and see if your body really needs more caffeine. You may want another cup, but you certainly won't need an energy drink!
• Cut back on caffeine slowly. If you find yourself dependent on highly caffeinated drinks, just reduce your consumption progressively.