Free Recipes

If you are in college, you will probably have to start cooking your own meals. It might not seem like the best idea, after all, you will  have to learn how to cook, get the ingredients, spend time cooking, all of that to produce a meal! Sometimes, it is  more tempting to just go to a fast food restaurant and spend a couple of bucks and not worry about making a meal. However, if you make this a habit, you won’t feel good, and your pockets will be a lot lighter. If you are having a hard time motivating yourself to cook at home, here are some reasons why you should cook at home.

1. It is a lot healthier. It is healthier if you cook meals at home. You will be able to substitute things that might be really fatty. There are also a lot of chemicals in pre-made food. If you want to feel better about yourself, try cooking at home. You will avoid all of the chemicals and fatty substitutions that are in fast food. Read the rest of this entry »

If you love cooking hot meals and baking delectable treats, but find yourself passing on certain recipes because the ingredients list doesn’t exactly fit into your diet, then you’ll be pleased to know that there are things you can do to tweak those recipes and make them fall in line. Don’t worry, changing recipes for the better health-wise doesn’t have to mean changing them for the worse flavor-wise. Here are five simple food substitutions for healthier cooking:

Bacon. Okay, who doesn’t love bacon? Bacon seems to make anything taste better, and those savory, crumble in your mouth slices of heaven are so irresistible that it’s hard to eat just one (or ten). Unfortunately, bacon is also the father of all fatty and unhealthy foods. So how do you maintain your relationship with bacon without clogging your arteries? Substitute standard bacon with turkey bacon, Canadian bacon, or Italian ham (lean prosciutto). Read the rest of this entry »

Sandwiches needn’t be boring; one can only eat cold cut meat between two slices of white bread so many times before it starts becoming tiresome. Sandwiches can be as imaginative as you’d like them to be; there’s no rule book stating what is and isn’t an acceptable sandwich. From regional classics to contemporary fusions, the examples below should hopefully inspire you to be more creative when making your next sandwich!

The Open Face Ham, Chedder and Apply Butter Sandwich

This delicious and indulgent sandwich uses thinly sliced pork and hearty chedder, combined with Apple butter in an open-faced ciabatta format.

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When you’re cooking in the kitchen, it should be a fun experience that delights your senses. Whether you’re just learning how to cook or are a seasoned pro, cooking makes you happy. But everyone needs some help in the kitchen sometimes, and there is a ton of helpful information available to you in cookbooks and on the Internet. If you have an iPhone, you can have lots of cooking reference materials right at your fingertips. Here are some of the best apps for people who love to cook available in the iTunes app store. Read the rest of this entry »

With a jar of honey in the kitchen cupboard Christmas feasts can be enhanced in so many ways and a sprinkling of a herb or two will give a further zest to any holiday recipe. From meat to pastries, honey will add the Christmas cheer to any dish and is the addition to the herb cupboard that is as much a healthy option, as it is an accompanying treat for Christmas cookery.  Honey baked cookies and cakes will always taste as warm as if they are straight from the oven, and mix with a touch of cinnamon for extra festive spice.

Sweet Meat

For meats roasting in the oven, honey adds a shiny glaze but also crisps off to give a harder coating and sweetens the meat throughout with an extra tang and taste. To prevent burning, add the honey glaze during the cooking time and if a softer coating is required cover it whilst cooking. For a stronger flavor enhancement, use a darker variety of honey.  If pure the honey will sometimes have a taste of its own herb, thyme and rosemary are common ones, but adding a twist of these herbs or any others such as garlic or lavender, to a salad dressing will zing it up for a special occasion. Mix as the Mediterranean nations do, with a little oil or balsamic vinegar to produce a more subtle sweetness.

Herby Helping Hands

Mixing herbs with honey is a simple affair as it goes with most of them and is a perfect match to so many things in the kitchen cupboards, one well tried taste is mustard, and this can be added to lemon and dill for a delicious salad dressing or pour over sauce. This is now a favored addition to any salmon dish but can be just as easily added to pasta or rice dishes.

Using garlic with honey in any recipe is an unusual sounding combination yet it is widely accepted and tastes delicious as a marinade and cheers up chicken dishes or even the left-over turkey for Boxing Day. In marinades, honey helps to tenderize the meat as well as flavor it and will provide a more sticky texture as it is a natural binding product so can enhance cakes and pastries for this reason.

A Little Tip for a Sweet Kick

To avoid any acidic taste add a teaspoon of baking powder and always remember that honey naturally moistens a recipe so always take a little care in the amount of water being used in a recipe and use less rather than more.

A vast majority of shop bought honey has additives and is sugar based, this will always create a sweeter more syrupy taste but also may harden slightly so when using in any recipe, cut down any extra sugar to avoid over sweetening. (In general use three quarters of a cup of honey to one cup of sugar).  Biscuits and cakes can be flavored with honey to give a lovely golden coloring as well as moist taste and it is perfect for those Christmas biscuits, flapjacks or even mixed with ginger for festive iced shapes and creations, for all those who enjoy the sweeter things in life.

This post has been written by Martina Mercer. Martina writes for Lavenderworld.co.uk who provide a range of products from herb plants to beauty gifts.