Fourth of July Stars and Stripes Crisp Recipe

Here it is the first of May already.  May Day is here.  It is time to give out May baskets.  Does anyone do that anymore?  You know, remember when someone would ring your doorbell on May first and you would go to answer it and there would be a beautiful May Basket with beautiful Spring flowers sitting there having been place there anonymously?

Enough of May Day what we want to do here is make a 4th of July treat to share at your family picnic or give as a part of 4th of July gift basket ideas.
Iced Star and Stripes Crisps
These crispy cookies are great for dipping coffee or just snacking on.

• ¾ cup honey
• ¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 cups
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 small eggs
• 3 teaspoons instant coffee powder
• ¾ finely ground almonds

Cook the honey with brown sugar and butter over low heat in a small sauce pan.  Cook until completely melted.  Let it cool slightly.
Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and cloves.

At low speed mix together the honey mixture, eggs, and coffee powder until blended well.  Mix in the nuts until well blended.  Now beat the honey mixture with the flower mix ½ cup at a time until you form stiff dough.

Knead the dough on a floured surface for a few minutes until smooth.  Shape dough into an oval and wrap it in plastic, and place in the refrigerator over night right next to that great macaroni salad recipe.   Make your icing and chill overnight, too.

Crisp Icing

• 2 cups chilled heavy cream
• 1 ¾ tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar
• Blue and red food coloring

Beat the chilled heavy cream and confectioner’s sugar together on high speed until you start forming soft peaks.

When you and the dough are ready for baking ,roll the dough out on a floured surface approximately ¼ inch thick.  Use star shaped cookie cutters for cutting out various sizes of stars and use a knife to slice stripes in various width probably no longer than 3 inches.

Gather dough, knead, and re flatten as needed.  Place the cut cookies on the prepared cookie sheet approximately 1 inch apart.   Let them bake at 325 degrees for 11 to 13 minutes.

After the cookie crisps have cooled frost with the icing separating into 3 bowls and coloring one red and one blue.  Leave one bowl white and frost the crisps red, white, and blue as desire.

Quick And Easy Pasta Salad

1. What veggies do you have on hand? —  The nice thing about pasta salad is that any vegetables will work.  Whatever you have available can be chopped up and used for your salad.

You can go with only a couple or you can throw in a bunch.  Whatever you have will work.  This is great for when you are running low on things and don’t have much to choose from for a meal idea.

2.  Do you have any meat? —  Any meat will do in a pasta salad.  Meat is not required but if you have anything in your refrigerator you can add it to your salad.  Leftover chicken or ham would be a great addition.

Maybe you have some pepperoni or some bacon.  How about grabbing a can of tuna.  Tuna pasta salad is very tasty and is very easy to throw together.

3. Come up with some kind of dressing —  You need something to moisten up your salad and to help it stick together a bit.  Again, whatever you have available will work.  You could mix in some oil and vinegar and be good to go.  Maybe you only have a jar of mayonnaise in the refrigerator.

This will work fine.  Can you find a jar of dressing, like Ranch or Blue Cheese? This will work great as well.  Anything you can find to give it a little more flavor will be sufficient.

Everyone loves a good pasta salad.  The nice thing about it is it is so easy to make.  There are so many different things you can do it is great for those nights when you don’t have anything to make.

Everyone has a can of tuna in the pantry.  A specific tuna salad recipe is not required.  You can combine it with pasta, some vegetables and a little dressing and you have yourself a quick and nutritious meal.

Save Money With Casseroles

Times were tough in the depression. Mothers were busy trying to save money and feed their families however they could.  Casseroles became increasingly popular as women tried to use their imaginations and their leftovers to save money while providing healthy meals for their children.

As today’s families struggle to shave dollars off their grocery bills, casseroles are enjoying a resurgence in popularity as home cooks make use of kitchen gardens and leftovers to create modern and nutritious one dish meals.

You can easily save the cost of one dinner a week by using leftovers from your previous meals to develop casserole dishes.  At the end of each meal, save every leftover you can -even a tablespoon of spaghetti sauce or the end of a block of cheese can add flavor to a shepherd’s pie dish or a baked pasta dish.

Use small freezer bags or tupperware (baby food jars work well too) and save vegetables, pasta, rice, chicken, pork,beef or beans. While you may not have enough pasta or rice to make the base of a new casserole, they can always be added to soup. Your vegetables, meats and beans are what you will focus on for your casserole.

Be sure to stock up on canned soups, dried spices and herbs, brown rice, pasta and canned or dried beans when they go on sale. These items are inexpensive and have a long shelf life so they are ideal for rounding out  casserole dishes recipes.

Canned tomatoes and beans are particularly flavorful, nutritious and cheap. To avoid serving the same old dish over and over again, change and combine the herbs and spices you use.

Try these for a flavor boost: fresh cilantro with dried chili pepper for a beans and rice based casserole, fresh basil with pine nuts in a pasta casserole, or garlic, lemon and rosemary in a chicken casserole. For more exotic recipes experiment with curry powder, lime and turmeric combinations.

One of the easiest ways to spend money you don’t have is to buy takeout dinners on busy weeknights when everyone is too tired to cook.  Avoid this pitfall by preparing healthy main dish casseroles ahead of time and freezing them. Pick a weekend to do some Once-A-Month-Cooking, and choose three or four recipes. Buy all your ingredients and several aluminum foil casseroles that can go in the freezer (these come in 8 x 8 and 9 x 13 inch sizes.)

If you have a smaller family, use single-serving containers that can be popped in the microwave for a one-person dinner. To save even more money, use produce from your garden. Tomatoes, peas, green beans, green and red peppers, potatoes and pumpkin are all excellent staples for family casseroles.

By using all of your leftovers, buying canned and/or dried products on sale, and preparing casserole dishes and freezing them ahead of time you can save at least $40-$50 dollars a month for a family of four.

Use the internet to find new recipes or flavor combinations – there is a lot of great information out there that can help you create delicious and money-saving casseroles.

Making Quinoa Recipes Your Children Will Love!

Getting your children to eat healthy is never easy – especially if you don’t start them off eating healthy when they are babies.  Once you introduce junk food it can be hard to switch them back to healthier alternatives. 

Add to this that we are all so busy and often don’t take the time to plan our family meals and it is no wonder that so many Mom’s and Dad’s out there find themselves reaching for the chicken nuggets and frozen French fries at night.

The fact is that I’ve done this on more than one occasion, but I never feel good about it.  So, I’ve started setting time aside each Saturday afternoon to plan my meals out.  I try to focus on including healthy foods, like quinoa but preparing them in a way that my children love. 

Instead of trying to force them to eat a quinoa salad that I might like, I’ll prepare them a lightened up macaroni and cheese recipe, substituting the quinoa for the pasta.  I’ve learned that it isn’t always reasonable to expect my preschoolers to like the spicy foods that I do, but that isn’t a reason to give up on healthy eating all together.  The key is finding quinoa recipes they will enjoy!

Since I can cook the quinoa ahead of time and it will last a week in the refrigerator, I like to make a big batch on the weekend so that I have it on hand during the week.  It’s perfect to add into meatloaf and meat balls in place of breadcrumbs. 

In fact, I’m the only one that knows it is there.  Later in the week, I will add a few cups into a chicken pot pie and believe it or not I often toss it into cookies and other sweet treats as well.

Healthy eating for your family doesn’t have to be a battle.  With a little planning and paying attention to healthy foods that your children like, you can develop a plan that works for your family.

Features Your Restaurant Software Program Should Have

A restaurant is like a duck swimming in a pond. It looks really calm from your point of view but deep inside the double doors is where all of the heavy paddling and hard work occurs. People do not really see the work that managers have to put into this business because what we mostly want is good service. Managers may be at the brink of insanity with all of the things that they have to consider but if ever they need to have a little relief with work, they should invest good money on restaurant management software. Because this software can only do mathematical and accounting stuff, it would be necessary for you to look for other programs that can do things which are more than what these programs can offer.

When it comes to additional features, you should try to select those that come with inventory monitoring capabilities. This type of feature will be of great help to you especially when you have a lot of people eating inside your restaurant on a daily basis. This feature will keep track of every single ingredient or raw material you may have for the production of your specialties on the menu. Common small business accounting software programs do not exactly have these features which is why you should try to select those which have a lot of inventory integration inside it.

Another type of additional feature that you must look into is the ability of the software to make payrolls and scheduling possible. This has a lot to do with the money of the restaurant because the owners will have to reserve some amount of money as payment for labour. With this feature, no employee will ever feel underpaid because the software will ensure proper budgeting and a balanced staff scheduling.

The great thing about accounting programs is that they can function well with numbers but if ever you feel like they do not give you the best controls, management programs should be your next best choice. Researching for them through forums sites will give you a great idea of which ones should you buy for your restaurant.

Tiki Torches Lighting Up Your Yard

Lighting is an important consideration when you are decorating your backyard, especially if you are going to host a lot of evening gatherings. One of the more popular ways to provide lighting is to use bamboo metal tiki torches. These come in many styles which can either give your yard a specific look or fit in with existing items. They have a nice bamboo aesthetic coupled with a durability that is lacking with natural bamboo. They are not a fire hazard and they will not break easily, furthermore they can withstand heavy amounts of rain.

Black metal bamboo tiki torches perfectly complement a dinner set that is the same color. They are a great option if you often cook at night time as they can be placed near the grill to give extra outdoor lighting. Black is an elegant color and will not detract from any other features in the yard. Another option is to use copper tiki torches as they are a natural color which will subtly blend in to the yard. This type of tiki torch is experiencing a surge in popularity so you can be assured that it is a fashionable addition to your yard.

Tiki torches come in a range of sizes, varying between one and seven feet tall. With the different colors on offer you can find one which fits in with the rest of your yard. You might want a traditionally designed torch which will blend in with your yard, or a torch with striking and interesting designs that will stand out from the rest of your ornaments. By shopping around a little you will be able to find one that is ideally suited to your yard. Tiki torches will ensure any gathering you host will be lit perfectly and have a warm and friendly atmosphere.

How To Make Baby Food With The Right Tools

It is easy to learn how to make baby food as long as you have the proper tools to do the job. As soon as I started planning for my first child I knew that making food for her was going to be one of my top priorities. I had heard all about the harmful preservatives that were contained in jars of baby food that you buy at the store so I really wanted to avoid this and not expose my child to poor nutrition. I began researching all kinds of methods of creating jars of baby food on your own and I found that it was going to be a lot easier than I thought it would.

The key factor in making the process simple is having the right machine to do the job. There are companies that make machines specifically designed for baby food making so you really should obtain one of these if you’re serious about doing this consistently. Trying to make baby food with a standard blender or own food processor is going to be difficult and not do the job the correct way. A good baby food making machine will do everything you need in one step and get the food down to the right consistency for your child.

When you make the decision to make your own baby food you are not only enhancing your child’s nutrition but you are definitely saving your family a lot of money as well. I have found that it is much cheaper to buy the raw items myself and make baby food. Just buying the ready-made jars in the store is much more expensive and I am glad I don’t have to do that. The first year of a child’s life is the most important to its growth so you should do all you can to make it the most nutritious year.

Vitamin B12 Benefits, Deficiency and Treatment

Vitamin B12 Benefits

Vitamin B12 has been a major concern among the vegan community for the last decades, and for a good reason. This is a water soluble vitamin, that is vital for our body’s proper functioning, and replicating DNA, formating red blood cells, tissue growing and metabolism boosting are just some of the B12 vitamin benefits. Many of these vegans take vitamin B12 injections while there are far less radical ways for them to get their vitamin b12 stores up and running.

Some of the other benefits of vitamin B12 are creating Myelin, which is a fatty, protective substance that resides around our nerve cells, which is the reason for many of the B12 deficiency symptoms to include some form of a nerve damage, such as sharp nerve shocks or tingling in the hands, tongue, and/or feet. Vitamin B12 also helps lowering your homo cysteine levels. Homo cysteine is an amino acid of whom higher levels have been linked with a greater risk of developing cancer, heart stroke, Alzheimer, and in fact many of today’s modern world diseases.

Vitamin B12 Deficiency Symptoms

If you happen to have a deficiency, you will probably sense a general tiredness and your energy levels will drop significantly, as your red blood cells count will stay quite low. Some of the other vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms include pale skin, white spots on the fore arm, fatigue, headaches, migraines, loss of appetite, poor memory, facial pain, vision difficulties, shortness of breath, and more. These are just some of the deficiency symptoms of vitamin B12.

Treatment of Deficiency

A deficiency can be checked within a simple blood test at your local medical center. If you are found to have a deficiency, you will probably be given a short series of B12 injections, which unfortunately, is still the preferred method of treatment among doctors. You should acknowledge that there are vitamin B12 injections benefits as well as side effects, and you can get the same benefits of B12 out of any other supplement out there and even regular vitamin B12 foods.

Fun And Easy Chicken Breast Recipes For All Ages

Chicken breast recipes and pork chop recipes are not just for adults anymore.

Children love finger food, and chicken bites (or fingers) are always a huge hit.

This recipe is a perfect Easter feast for your children.  Forget coloring those eggs; invite your children into the kitchen and let them help you prepare these tasty and crunchy chicken bites/fingers.  But, beware … you will have a difficult time keeping the adults away from these crunchy and delicious bite-sized morsels.

You will need a pound of fresh chicken breasts (cut into small strips).  You may use chicken tenders if you are in a hurry and do not want to spend time cutting the chicken breasts into strips.

You will also need the following ingredients:

-           Mayonnaise

-           Spicy Mustard

-           Half and Half

-           Four Eggs

-           Bread crumbs of your choosing

Start with a clean kitchen surface.  You will also need the following items:

-           Two deep bowls

-           Two whisks

-           One oblong platter

-           One cookie sheet

Scoop ½ cup of Mayonnaise into one of the bowls and add ¼ cup of spicy mustard.  Hand over that whisk and let your children whisk away.  Add ½ teaspoon of half and half and keep whisking until smooth and creamy.

Next, have your children crack the eggs into another bowl.  Again, whisk away until the eggs are frothy (add a drop of half and half for that frothy look).

Finally, spread the bread crumbs on the oblong platter.

Now, the real fun begins.  Let your children take a piece of the chicken and dip the chicken, one piece at a time, first in the egg mixture, then in the Mayonnaise mixture.  Take each piece of chicken and dredge it through the bread crumb mixture, coating both sides well.  Place each piece of chicken on the cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Absolutely delicious and your children helped create a lasting memory!

Note:  this recipe is not just for chicken breasts; it makes a great pork chop recipe, as well.

Benefits of homemade pizza.

Homemade pizza sauce requires the perfect combination of ingredients and maybe a little bit of luck. The best pizza sauce recipe will contain all fresh ingredients, namely fresh tomatoes. There are a number of benefits to preparing fresh homemade pizza sauce as opposed to purchasing a pizza from the store or a pizza chain.

All the popular pizza chains seem to constantly be running deals and special. While it may look like a great way to save money, the truth is that it is more affordable to make a pizza from scratch at home. The small amount of vegetables or meat needed to make a pizza is very inexpensive. A basic crust only requires some flour, water, and yeast, while a great pizza sauce can be made from fresh tomatoes and a variety of sauces. The dough and sauce can even be made in bulk and frozen for future use.

One of the best perks of making homemade pizza is that the pizza can be completely personalized. If one prefers sweet sauce, they can use a tomato strainer, food processor, and stove top to mix the perfect combination of ingredients. Even more exciting, the sauce can always be changed and experimented with.

Pizza made at home is typically far healthier than one purchased from a store or pizza chain. Any pizza sauce recipe can be altered to contain healthier ingredients. What is most important is that one can control what is going in to the pizza. When pizza is ordered or bought from a store, it is hard to know exactly what ingredients make up the pizza.

Making a pizza at home from scratch may seem like a hard job, but in reality it is more fun, less expensive, and healthier than ordering out. Find the perfect pizza recipe and get cooking!

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