Cake Decorating: Baby Shower Cakes And Frosting Recipes

Baby showers are usually a light hearted and fun way to congratulate the soon-to-be mom and give a gift to the baby. The cake should make a statement about the baby and what you wish for the family.

There are several different types of icing to use on this type of cake.

Quick Buttercream

1 pound sweet unsalted butter

1 pound icing fondant

1/2 tsp vanilla

Yields

2 pounds 3 cups

Use a flat beater or mixer to cream the butter. Add fondant gradually while beating.

Time - about 12 minutes

Cream Cheese Icing

10 oz of cream cheese

14 oz of icing fondant

7 ounces of shortening

Yields

2 pounds 3 cups

With a flat beater, beat cream cheese while adding icing fondant a little at a time.

Mix until smooth, add shortening, mix all together until smooth and light.

Time 10 to 12 minutes.

Remember that your cake decoration for a baby shower will be the centerpiece for the baby shower. There are plenty of places to get ideas for making wonderful baby shower cakes on the internet, or you may want to make up your own design. In any case you can use one of these great icing recipes.

Buttercream 1-2-3

3 Tblsp. Meringue Powder

1/2 cup water

3 cups of Icing Sugar

1 cup Sweet Butter

1 cup shortening

Vanilla to taste.

Yields

4 cups

Place water, meringue powder, and sugar in a bowl.

Beat with a beater until mixture makes peaks (7 to 10 minutes)

Add soft butter, shortening, and vanilla

Whip until fluffy and all lumps are gone

Flavoring your buttercream icing.

Amounts are based on flavoring one cup of icing.

Nougat

2 Tbsp Hazelnut paste (melt over low heat)

Mocha

1/2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1/2 tsp water.

2 Tbsp Semi-Sweet chocolate-melted

Cocoa and Oil

Mix 3 Tbsp cocoa powder and 2 Tbsp veg oil into a paste.

Lorran Oils- 10 to 12 drops

Vanilla- 8 drops

Lemon Flavor- 6 drops lemon oil and 2 Tbsp Lemon Butter

Of course, you can use these recipes on any cake decorating design. The baby shower cake is usually a smaller cake with whimsical or heartwarming decorations in a baby theme. In times past, the decorations for baby shower cakes were limited, now they can be found everywhere. Craft stores usually have a variety of ready-made cake decorations for your baby shower cake.

Whether you are a pro or a novice it is fun to do a baby shower cake decorating project. You can choose to buy the decorations, or make your own with icing. You can use your skills and imagination to make your baby shower cake outstanding. You will be elated when everyone compliments you on the beautiful baby shower cake.

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Favorite Easy Christmas Cookie Recipes

We all have memories of our favorite Christmas cookie recipes.

Whether chocolate covered, fruit filled or icing topped, holiday baking recipes have to include a few fantastic cookie recipes to satisfy the sweet tooth in all of us.

FREE Paleo Diabetes Low Glycemic Diet Recipes

Necessity is the mother of invention. Diabetics require a low glycemic diet. Low glycemic is the same term as a low carbohydrate diet. Foods rich in complex carbohydrates (starch) bread, cereals and pasta. Simple carbohydrates (sugar) desserts and candy. Paleo Diet is free of most food rich in complex or simple carbohydrates.

FREE Christmas Candy Recipes

Even if you are not a big candy eater, Christmas candy recipes are really welcomed during the holidays.

No matter how much we vow to eat healthy during the holidays, no matter how much we may swear off sweets, there is something quite wonderful about having at least a little bit of delicious Christmas candy now and then. It's not all year after all.

FREE Having Fun With All Kinds Of Recipes Tips

A new recipe can add spice to the dinner table, enhance a meal that a regular at your house, or add to your wonderful, growing collection of recipes for meals at a later date.

A recipe consists of two or more ingredients blended together. Some recipes require too many ingredients, making organization very difficult. The instructions can be as simple as mixing two things together, or as involved as several different steps to get to the ultimate step of putting the meal in the oven for final cooking. The fact is the more effort that goes into the recipe to get it right, the better it will be.

Some cooks keep a collection of spices, herbs, and other ingredients that they use on a regular basis in a certain part of their cupboard. These items are always available, as they are signature to the tastes of the meals of that particular cook. It might be Greek oregano or Mexican chili powder, or Jamaican jerk. Then there are items bought, never to be used again. But they were an absolute necessity for that one special dish that was to be prepared on that special occasion.

When you become really experimental, you may try recipes from different countries. You may want to try your hand at Chinese food. A Caribbean meal may be challenging. Or you may try something with saffron and rice from the Middle East.

The spices, you will find, are the biggest difference when you begin to cook meals from other countries. You will see, also, that certain types of meat and vegetables are used in other regions, as well. India, for example, uses a lot of lamb in theirs, whereas Mexicans use mostly beef, and Chinese have many using chicken.

And if you like collecting books and magazines, there is a never ending supply that you can encounter on-line, in stores, and at flea markets and thrift outlets about cooking. There are cook books about burgers, casseroles, and shell fish. You will find others on crepes, and one-pot meals, and thirty-minute dishes. There are books that only include cooking for Christmas, or stir fry, or deep frying. And the list goes on, and then there are magazines.

You will encounter all types of collectable cook books at thrift shops, book stores, used book stores, yard sales, and on line. There are many types of collectible books like this, such as collections that have been placed in binders from someone who became a member of a cooking club. These people have received them each month, sometimes for years. There are cook books that have annual collections in them for the year. There are magazine collections in binders, too. And still other people collect their recipes and then write them on index cards and put their favorite ones into an index box. If one is organized, it will not drive you crazy. At least you will not need to worry about the cook book closing up on you while you are cooking from a recipe in it.

You can collect recipes forever, but the very best cooks do not even need them.

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FREE How to Find Good Raw Food Recipes

Although you might have the notion that the only people who use raw food recipes are those who dont like to cook, with each passing day you couldnt be farther from the truth! More and more people than ever before in recent times are abandoning their diets of canned, processed and boxed foods and opting instead to take advantage of the many delicious raw food recipes that are out there. Out where, you ask? On the Internet, of course. There are thousands of delicious and nutritious ideas floating around amongst hundreds of websites, with many more going live for the first time every day. When it comes to these foods, there are many benefits to choosing them for consumption as opposed to processed items, starting with nutrition.

It is now pretty much considered common knowledge that when foodstuffs are cooked they lose a huge majority of their vitamins and minerals, significantly swaying into the category of foods known as empty calorie foods. With empty calories, they provide the body with plenty of fat, but they also bring along way too many calories for the amount of nutrition they provide. Basically, empty calories mean high calories and little nutritional value. Unfortunately with people being busier than ever on a day to day basis, more and more of these foods are being consumed, whether it is in the form of junk food like candy, chips or soda pop or it is in the form of just eating canned vegetables as opposed to those that are fresh or even frozen.

When you get on the Internet to look for raw food recipes, you will see that there are many combinations of foods that you may have never thought of putting together, and you are also more than likely going to be very impressed with the huge variety of recipes that you find- not to mention new and easy cooking tips to implement into your new foods regimen! Make sure that when you begin you online search that you always have a pencil and paper handy (or even your computer printer!) so that you dont have to fumble around looking for raw food recipes that you think you saw on some website somewhere, but just are not sure what exactly that website was!

The whole idea is that there are tons of good raw food recipes that you are going to be able to find when you use the Internet, and you may find that there are some good books at your local book store, but you will always find a wider variety online- and you wont have to travel anywhere or fork out any money for the information, either!

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Raw Food Diet Recipes - Easy Healthy Raw Apple Carrot Salad - Free Raw Recipe Posted By : Helen Hecker

Similar to our mom's old apple, carrot salad recipe but this is one of the raw food diet recipes that uses no mayonnaise, fillers, sugar, salt, cooked, canned, processed or non-living food. All ingredients are alive, living, raw, vegan, gluten-free and healthy. Kids love this salad and it's so good for them. This is a good healthy salad to send to school in their lunch box or bag or for you to take to work or school.

All the old fillers and binders for this raw salad have been replaced with healthy sweet orange juice. It's easy to increase the ingredients for this salad by doubling if you want to take a larger amount to a potluck or have a lot of company coming. And it's relatively cheap to fix as the ingredients aren't expensive. Use organic if possible, especially the apples.

Healthy Raw Apple Carrot Salad

Ingredients: apples, carrots, raisins or currants, orange(s), lemons, frozen or fresh ginger root and optional walnuts and shredded coconut.

For a small salad:

2 apples, organic, cored and grated with peel on - using sweet apples like Jonagolds, or Galas are best
4 carrots, organic, scrubbed, not peeled and grated
1 cup organic raisins or currants
1 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed
4 T lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 T lemon zest
3 tsp ginger root grated, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup walnuts soaked overnight or at least 6 hours, then chopped, optional
2 T dried shredded coconut, optional

Grate the apples, carrots and ginger root and place in large bowl. Add the raisins or currants, orange juice, lemon juice and lemon zest. Add the optimal walnuts and shredded coconut just before serving or sprinkle on after dishing up. Or serve both on the side and let guests help themselves. Some people don't like shredded coconut and some don't like walnuts or have allergies to walnuts or tree nuts.

In any case I'm sure you'll find as I do that this is a good salad to make in a hurry or to have handy for lunches, snacks and family meals. Healthy raw food diet recipes are always good to have on hand and besides providing a nourishing meal you know you're contributing to everyone's good health. This is a good diet salad also for those who need a good healthy raw food snack when their dieting.

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Raw Food Diet Recipes - Pistachio Honey Butter (No Butter) Spread - Free Raw Recipe Posted By : Helen Hecker

 This is one of my favorite raw food diet recipes. It's so easy and can be made in minutes. This free raw recipe for pistachio honey butter spread has the consistency of chunky honey butter. We used to spread honey butter on hamburger buns and eat them without the meat when I was in college. I use this spread all the time. It is versatile. Kids love it as well as adults.
I use this spread on many veggies including organic raw celery. Just cut off the ends of the celery and scoop the pistachio honey butter on. It's also great on mini sweet peppers. Try the miniatures that are red, orange and yellow. Cut off the end and cut in half and remove the seeds. Scoop in the honey butter spread. Or try the large red, orange and yellow sweet peppers and cut them in wide strips and scoop on. If you don't care for sweet peppers or celery this pistachio spread will change your mind. You can get bags of the miniatures sweet peppers at Costco but they're not organic.
Keep in mind that non-organic peppers can have a lot of pesticides on them. Many farmers' markets have peppers available and they're easy to grow in your home garden.
I always buy my raw honey at a farm where I know it's raw. The supermarket raw honeys are not raw, even though they claim to be. They are heated and therefore pasteurized losing precious nutrients.
Pistachios also go good with beets so if you're using raw beets in a beet salad recipe or spiralized in a spiral slicer. Try some pistachio honey butter with or on the beets.
Equipment needed: food processor
Ingredients needed: pistachios, organic raw honey, Celtic salt or sun-dried sea salt and lemon.
1 cup raw pistachios
1 tablespoon organic raw honey
Dash of Celtic salt or very tiny pinch of sun dried sea salt
Splash of fresh lemon juice
Put all the ingredients in a food processor and process until a little creamy. It's best with tiny chunks of pistachios so watch closely. If you prefer larger chunks it won't take long so keep checking. The spread will be thick and will be a little hard to get out of the processor bowl. Keep it in the refrigerator. It will get a little harder when it's cold so take it out a little early if you want to spread it easier. Keep in an airtight jar. Keeps a week or more.
Health benefits of pistachios. The green color in pistachios is actually chlorophyll which is very good for us. The greener the nut the more chlorophyll is contained in it. Pistachios are alkaline-forming, not acidic. They're good for constipation, help purify the blood and help tone the kidneys and liver. Always use raw pistachios not dry roasted. Roasting removes many of the good properties. Pistachios have protein, good fat, Calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, sodium, zinc, copper, beta carotene, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), folic acid (B9), and tocopherol (vitamin E).
Try experimenting with other veggies and you're sure to find others that this pistachio honey butter is good on or with. This is just one of many easy raw food diet recipes that you can fix and eat and help you enjoy good health in the process.
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FREE FREE Quick and Easy Cake Recipes Tips- right ingredients and tools available

It can be just a piece of cake! Here are some simple cake recipes to start you off on the path to great baking.

1 - Rich Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Butter, to grease the cake pans
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degree F (150 degree C).
2. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then grease and flour the pans.
3. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.
4. Combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla in another bowl.
5. Slowly add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine.
6. Add the coffee and stir until combined.
7. Empty the batter into the cake pans and bakes for 35-40 minutes or when a skewer comes out clean.
8. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
9. Remove the cakes and place them onto a cooling rack to cool.

2 - Easy Fruit Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup Apple sauce
3/4 cup Water
1/2 cup Sugar.
2 1/2 cups Mixed dried fruit
2 Egg whites mildly beaten
1 1/2 cups White flour
2 teaspoons Baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 300 degree F.
2. Line a 6-inch circular cake tin using greaseproof paper.
3. Put the apple sauce, water, sugar, and dried fruit in a saucepan.
4. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Allow to cool.
6 Mix the egg whites into the fruit mixture.
7. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture.
8. Stir to create a stiff batter. Add water if needed.
9. Empty into the cake pan and scatter brown sugar on top.
10. Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, when a skewer comes out clean.

Novelty cakes are cakes that are baked and decorated in different designs. These cakes have become popular at events especially birthday parties. They are available in three kinds:
1. A simple round cake with objects or pictures on top.
2. Dimensional cakes when the cake is cut into the shape of the object desired.
3. 3-Dimensional where the cake is made in an imitated object that positions erect.

These cakes are expensive and hard to create but not if you purchase a novelty cake tin in the object that you desire. Just bake a normal cake mix using the pan. When it is baked the edges created by the pan will show you where to put certain features. Frost the cake in your selection of colours and there you have it, your own novelty cake!

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FREE Raw Food Diet Recipes - Watermelon And Peach Salsa

Salsa recipe that's so easy to make you can make it in mere minutes - a treat, a tropical salsa that's refreshing any time of year, this is a great change of pace. This is one of many great raw food diet recipes I like to make to take to parties, picnics, potlucks or raw food potlucks and is a hit because of the unusual combination of ingredients. And you can put it all together just before you go if need be. People love to try this watermelon and peach salsa and it's often the talk of the get-together or party no matter the group, whether raw fooders, vegans, vegetarians or not.
The preparation time takes just about 10 minutes and yields about 15 servings or so. You can make this watermelon and peach salsa very quickly actually and doesn't require a lot of kitchen equipment to make. In fact you can make this raw recipe without any appliances. And it keeps nicely in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Ingredients: watermelon, cilantro, organic peaches, lime and sun dried sea salt. Make sure to use organic peaches because when non-organic peaches are sprayed there is no way to wash off the pesticide residue - it will be absorbed in the skin.
Watermelon And Peach Salsa
2 cups watermelon cubed, seedless or de-seeded
2 small organic peaches
Cilantro, small handful chopped
1 lime
1/2 tsp. sun-dried sea salt or Real Salt (a brand of sun-dried sea salt that is popular with raw foodists.)
Gather all the ingredients.

Put the cilantro into a large mixing bowl. Juice the lime and sprinkle over the top of it or just juice the lime over the top and be sure to catch the seeds.
Cube the watermelon into small cubes and add to cilantro in the mixing bowl.
Remove the pits from the peaches and discard, then dice the peaches fine and add.
Add the sea salt, preferably sun-dried.
Stir mixture gently retaining some chunks.
Place all in a large glass jar with airtight lid and refrigerate.
This easy salsa is versatile and goes well as a side dish or served along with dehydrated chips such as raw zucchini chips or raw sweet potato chips. You can even try this healthy free raw recipe on raw banana ice cream. This is one of many great raw food diet recipes and a favorite of mine that I like to serve to family and friends often.

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FREE Cake Recipes - You Can Make Right Now

Most of us have the ingredients in the house, and these easy cake recipes can be made right now so you can enjoy a homemade cake. These are all simple and don't even require much more then opening a can. This combination can make sure you can have a homemade cake quickly and simply with perfect results.

Dump cake is one of those that is always a favorite, for a good reason. It is simple and gives a colorful and flavorful cake that most people like. Use a large can of crushed pineapple, a large can of cherry pie filling. You will also need a yellow cake mix and half a cup of butter that has been chilled and cubed. Half a cup of nuts can be added, but this is your choice. Layer these in order, putting the butter in different places, and bake in a preheated over at 350 for about 40 minutes. The top will be slightly golden brown and it will not be doughy. Don't worry about it not being mixed, this will do so during the baking.

Another one that people like also is lower in calories than a traditional one. This is also a quick way to make a cake. Open a can of diet soda and add it to a cake mix. Popular choices is french vanilla and diet orange, or chocolate cake mix and diet cola. The choices you make here is up to you and there are many combinations you can have. Bake it in a greased pan according to the directions on the box.

You can't get much easier then 2 ingredients, and using an angel food cake mix and a 20 oz. Can of crushed pineapple is all that is needed. Combine and cook like on the box. This one makes a moist and not so sweet version of a cake that is just as good without icing as it is with some. It is not as thick as you might expect, and adding the eggs that appear on the box can make sure that it rises, but they are not important. Bake according to the directions on the box, and enjoy.

Three ingredient cakes are also easy, and this requires 2 eggs, a 21 ounce can of cherry pie filling and a white or yellow cake mix. Beat the eggs until they are lemon in color, add the pie filling and mix well. Finally, add the cake mix, and blend well with all the ingredients. Add to a greased pan about 9 inches by 13 inches, and bake at 350 for about half an hour.

Vegans can also find easy cakes, and many of these will come from the depression. Some of these take more work then the others described, but they can be made with things from a kitchen and do give a good tasting cake for those that want to make sure that they are living as green and peaceful as possible.

If these don't temp you into making a cake, search online fir recipes. There are thousands that you can try and many more that you can discover. If you are in doubt, read the reviews to them and see if they have given good results to other people. Sometimes, these also give you tips to make an even better cake.

Easy cake recipes do not need much work to have a homemade dessert. These can be made fast and give you good results that your family will ask for again and again.

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5 Great Websites for Grill Recipes

You have found the perfect grill, selected the tools you want to use when grilling and chosen a reason to fire up your new grill. The new burning question on your mind is ?What should I cook?? There are many, many websites on the internet that have barbeque recipes and searching through all of them is time consuming. Listed below are five fantastic websites that you will find yourself going to time and time again for culinary inspiration. Peruse the sites yourself and add them to your favorites. You will not be sorry that you did.

1.www.foodnetwork.com

This particular website has a specific tab located at the top of the home page that concerns all things grilling related. Alton Brown offers a crash course on barbeque basics, including a video called ?How to Grill Like a Pro.? If you are already familiar with the basic aspects of cooking on a grill, you can skip that part and head right to Bobby Flay?s section that includes his ten best recipes. The website includes different toppings for hotdogs and choosing vegetables that are in season to keep your meals fresh and interesting. If you are tired of the same old pasta salads that you have been making for years, the site offers 100 pasta salad recipes as well. Food Network?s site is full of fun and inspirational techniques and recipes to keep you grilling all year long.

2.www.womansday.com

There is a tab at the top of the homepage that is labeled ?Food and Recipes? If you click on this tab, you will be brought to a page that has a search box for the recipes. Typing ?Grill? into the search section yields 78 results. The recipes include everything from chicken to grilled banana splits. This is a versatile site that is user friendly.

3.www.goodhousekeeping.com

At the upper right hand side of this site there is a search engine. You can choose to search the whole site or simply the recipes by clicking on the recipes tab over the search box. Simply typing the word ?barbeque? into the search field yielded 584 recipes. Paula Deen has recipes on the website as well as the Barefoot Contessa. There is also an advanced search option that allows the user to select the different ingredients that they want to use. For example, clicking on the boxes for ?beef?, ?all vegetables? and burgers brings up 19 results to choose from. This is a great way to use what you already have to prepare a fun meal.

4.www.bbqrecipesecrets.com

This website is run by ?Barbeque Bob? Quinn and is brimming with information on all things barbeque. There are sauce recipes, food recipes, articles and videos. This is a fantastic page and includes recipes such as a tomato less barbeque sauce, barbequed duck and many other inventive and interesting recipes.

5.www.recipes.com

This is a recipe search engine that will direct you to many other sites online. They are sponsored websites so the results of the search word ?grilling? will bring you to sites such as Hebrew National and Kraft as well as specific websites devoted to grilling. This is a great site to use to add to your recipe collection, but to find what you want may take some time due to having so many choices of links to explore.

Wherever you begin your search for the perfect barbeque recipes, you will definitely find a plethora of options on any of these five sites. The most difficult part will be which technique to try first.

View the original article here

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FREE Cooking Recipes for Your Kids

Love cooking and you have children in your home there would definitely be times that you need to drive them away from the kitchen so that you can focus on the task at hand. No one can blame you from doing it since you do not want them to get hurt while they are running around the kitchen. There are a lot of potential dangers in the kitchen such as knives, hot surfaces, hot oils, boiling water, and many more that could get on their way. However you should also teach them right and safe practices in the kitchen. A way to get their full attention is to get them involved with easy cooking recipes that would be attractive for children.

Easy should be emphasized here so that you can focus your attention to your kids. You do not want to be cooking more complicated recipes. Complicated recipes would need your full attention which might not be a good idea when you have all your kids with you in the kitchen. Working with your kids would need you to stay calm but keep your eyes open just to make sure.

When kids get involved in cooking, you can expect some real mess after the process. Most probably your cooking table would be filled with various pieces of ingredients, scattered utensils, drops of seasoning, instruments for measuring, and other cooking materials. The activity would surely be fun for them and it should be fun for you as well. A taste of chaos once in a while will definitely make you feel better. This may be just another fun experience for your kids but the important thing is they learn something from it. Once they realize that they made good with their food they will surely feel good about themselves.

In deciding what simple recipe you want to work on with your kids you may want to get them involved with it as well. There are a lot of free simple recipes you can find on the internet these days. Have your kids join you when you are searching for the recipes to ignite their excitement even more. Simple cooking recipes may involve certain omelet recipes and other dishes made for breakfast. You can also select salads and sandwiches since they are pretty easy to make aside from being healthy. You will never find a kid who does not love French toasts and Pancakes and they are also not difficult to cook so you should include them in your choices.

Involve your kids on the entire process so that they can digest the lessons you impart to them while all of you are preparing for the dish. Easy cooking recipes are fun to make when you have the entire family involved with it. Do it soon so that your kids can finally make themselves more useful whenever they are in the kitchen with you when you are cooking something.

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FREE Jamaican-inspired Recipes

This makes a large pitcher suitable for getting schnockered with a few friends.

1 1/2 cups Cointreau
3 cups Appleton amber rum
10 mint sprigs
1 cup simple syrup
Juice of two limes
Juice of 3 oranges
3T Agnostura bitters, more or less to taste
Crushed ice

Pour all the ingredients into a large pitcher filled with crushed ice.
Stir vigorously, season with simple syrup if you like it a tad sweeter.
Serve immediately

Salt Cod ‘Stamp and Go’ Fritters with Dipping Sauce
1# dried salt cod, rinsed in several changes of cool water over a few hours and soaked overnight in a cold water bath in the refrigerator.
1 and ? cups sifted flour
1 and ? t baking powder
3 eggs, lightly beaten
6-7 T ice water
2 medium onions, finely minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup celery leaves finely minced
1 scotch bonnet pepper, finely minced
1T fresh thyme leaves
1t salt
1t ground black pepper
Vegetable oil for frying

Clean, trim and shred the fish.
Mix the fish, baking powder, flour, beaten egg, and just enough water to create a batter consistency the texture of loose cement.
Stir in the onion, garlic, scotch bonnet pepper, thyme, black pepper and salt.
In a pot on the stove set up your frying station with oil heated to 375.
Drop the mixture by tablespoonfuls into the oil and cook until golden.
Drain on paper toweling and serve hot with the? sauce.

Sauce Chien
1 small onion, minced
6 scallions minced
1 fresh chili pepper cleaned and minced (scotch bonnet)
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2t dried thyme
1 roasted red bell pepper, pulsed in a food processor or ground in mortar with a pestle
2T minced parsley
One half? cup boiling water
juice of 1 lime
2T peanut oil
Combine all the ingredients except the water, lime and oil in a bowl and stir to combine.
Add the water. Cool, add remaining ingredients and serve

Asopao de Pollo y Mariscos…Chicken, Shrimp and Rice Stew
Serves 6

2T fresh oregano leaves
2T fresh thyme leaves
4 garlic cloves sliced thin
6 boneless chicken thighs, cubed in 1” pieces
2 slices fruit wood smoked thick cut bacon, cut in 1” pieces
5T olive oil
1 scotch bonnet pepper
1 large onion, minced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped
? cup grated coconut, toasted….don’t use the sweetened kind
1 cup white wine
2 cups long grain white rice
4 cups rich homemade chicken stock
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup fresh or frozen cooked green peas
1 # wild ocean caught shrimp, U-15 size work best, peeled and deveined
Juice of 1 lime

Mix the chicken, thyme, oregano and garlic.
Set aside.
In a large non reactive heavy skillet on medium heat, heat the oil and saute the chicken to brown on all sides.
Reserve.
Add the bacon and saute until browned.
Add the onions, peppers, hot pepper and stir for a few minutes to cook through.
Add the tomatoes.
Add the rice? and coconut and stir to coat with vegetables. Add the wine and cook for a few minutes to cook away half the liquid.
Add the chicken stock and freshly ground pepper? to taste. bring to a boil and cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes
Remove the cover and stir in the shrimp, peas and lime juice.
Cover and cook for 6-8 minutes more.
Season to taste with sea salt, and serve immediately.

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FREE Strawberry Recipes - health-promoting antioxidants

It is the peak of strawberry season, and we're on the lookout for the most amazing strawberry recipes. We've rounded up a few below for you to enjoy. Feel free to add any others you are particularly fond of in the comment section - we like to highlight recipes that are using whole grains, whole grain flours, whole ingredients, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, minimally refined sweeteners, and the like - so keep that in mind if you post (or at the very least recommend substitutions).

Strawberries. As if their fragrant, juicy sweetness wasn't reason enough to enjoy these heart-shaped gems, strawberries are packed with potent phyto-nutrients and health-promoting antioxidants. When you are buying strawberries be on vigilant mold alert. Be sure to peek in the bottom of the basket, or hold berry baskets up high and look underneath - a single moldy berry seems to be contagious to the whole lot. Also, keep in mind, strawberries are one of the crops where pesticide residue is most likely to be found. Buy organic berries, or berries that have been grown without pesticides.

- Fava Beans and Strawberry Salad Recipe with Pecorino - from recent Iron Chef contender Chris Cosentino of Incanto Restaurant and Bar (link)

- Loving Greens Salad with Strawberries Recipe (link)

- Nicole Weston's Whole Wheat Strawberry Pancake Recipe (link)

- Strawberry-Coconut Scone Recipe on Post Punk Kitchen (vegan) - we'd use pure (solid) coconut oil/butter in place of the margarine. (link)

- Strawberry Fields Forever: Meg carries on her family strawberry jam-making legacy. This story posted last year deserves a big *bump* now that we are in the midst of strawberry season. (link)

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FREE 10 Excellent Picnic Recipes - abide by the food safety

Here comes the holidays and picnic are happening all over! it's also time to get creative with recipes. It doesn't matter where you choose to host your picnic, be it on a boat, on the beach, in a park or on your backyard, the following super recipes promise to make the gathering a true and unique celebration. Make sure you abide by the food safety rules provide lots of cool beverages, napkins and enjoy your summer!

#1. Mama's Best Potato Salad

Every picnic must include this recipe for the best potato salad in the world. Follow the instructions to the letter, and please, don't substitute ingredients, especially for the dressing; each is an integral part of a wonderful melody.

#2. Super-Choco Chip Cookies

These cookies, with the ground oatmeal and white chocolate and tons of chocolate chips, are superb. They are also wonderful for making ice cream sandwiches; just sandwich about 1/2 cup of any flavor ice cream between two cookies and press down. Freeze until firm, then enjoy!

#3. Turkey Cobb Wrap Sandwiches

These delicious sandwiches are like eating a Cobb salad in a tortilla. They're easy to eat, fun to make, and perfect for any picnic location. You'll love them for sure!

#4. Muffuletta Sandwich

This is an Italian sandwich, with lots of meat and cheese layered with olivada, which is an olive paste. You can make your own olivada, as in the recipe, or buy one from any gourmet or specialty shop. As a matter of fact, you can find olivada in your regular grocery store!

#5. Divinity Frozen Fruit Salad

This fabulous frozen salad is really wonderful for a picnic; serve it in ice cream cones! The kids will love the novelty of this idea, and serving is super easy for you.

#6. Tex Mex Black Bean Wraps

My love of Tex Mex cooking comes out in this fabulous recipe. What's so nice about wrap sandwiches on picnics is that they're so easy to eat! The bread doesn't get soggy (one of my pet picnic peeves) because it can't, and you can fill them with anything you like.

#7. Cantaloupe Popsicles

Cantaloupe is full of Vitamins A and C, yet it's so sweet, juicy, and succulent. Each one of these popsicles provides your kids with 30% of their daily requirement of Vitamin A and 60% Vitamin C. Plus, they're delicious and nicely portable.

#8. Cheesy Carrot Sandwich Buns

These delicious rolls hold their shape when filled with lots of luscious sandwich fillings. This recipe doesn't last long; freeze them after one day for longer storage and great taste.

#9. Blueberry Muffins

Muffins might seem an odd choice for a picnic, but think about it - they're totally portable, travel nicely, and everybody loves them you included.

#10. Super Easy Fruit Salad

Use any flavor of pie filling in this easy recipe. You can also spoon it into muffin cups or small drink cups and freeze it for more portability.

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FREE Citrus Fruit Recipes - powerful antioxidant phytochemicals

Citrus is just what we need to shake off the heavy, dark days of winter. Lately we’ve been tucking juicy segments of orange here, squeezing limes there, and scattering lemon zest — well — everywhere. These fruits provide the Spring cleaning we need after months of hearty, warm, stick to your-ribs fare. True, not everyone is seeing the brisker months melt away like us Californians, but no matter where you are, Spring is just around the corner, and the recipes below will help usher it in.

On the nutrition front, while we are in full support of your apple-a-day habit, you might want to think about adding a piece of citrus fruit to your regimen as well. A range of powerful antioxidant phytochemicals, like polyphenols, lycopene, and flavonoids make these sprightly fruits great for cancer prevention. Rich in fiber, vitamin C, beta-carotene, folic acid, and potassium you’ll get serious bang for your bite, weather you want to fight the common cold, reduce inflammation or your risk for heart disease, or just pack your kids lunch.

Then check out this great list of the many citrus fruit varieties there are to choose from.

Citrus:
- butternut squash kasha salad with citrus vinaigrette and spicy almonds
- new ambrosia
- citrus curry lentil soup
- arugala salad with whole citrus vinaigrette

Lemons:
- whole-wheat spaghetti with fresh ricotta and lemon zest
- meyer lemon risotto
- gremolata
- lemon verbena & honey granita

Oranges:
- orange pine nut buckwheat pancakes
- peanut, orange and carrot salad
- pan-grilled polenta with blood orange and basil relish
- orange & date bars
- bergamot orange salmon

Tangelos, tangerines, clementines, & kumquats:
- tangelo-coriander brown rice pilaf
- tangerine salt
- honey tangerines and kumquats with walnuts and shaved celery
- clementine yogurt compote
- kiwi kumquat salad with key lime syrup

Pomelos & grapefruits:
- gingered pineapple and grapefruit salsa
- pomelo salad
- fennel, olive & pink grapefruit salad

Limes
- snap pea salad with radish, & lime
- cilantro lime brown rice
- watermelon with lime juice & zest
- miso-lime pesto

Zesty products:
- orange blossom honey flute
- blood orange chocolate truffles
- Elizabeth W citrus vervain room fragrance
- o olive oil citrus oils
- Microplane premium zester
- oma lemon squeezer
- organic dwarf meyer lemon tree

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FREE Raw Food Recipes For Any Season

With summer quickly approaching, many people are looking for quick and easy raw food recipes to use instead of preparing meals that need to be cooked. People love to do things outdoors, and do not want to spend a lot of time indoors cooking. Not only does it heat up the house, it also takes away from precious outside time. The following paragraphs will offer some information regarding basic quick recipes using raw or precooked food.

Salads are quick way to feed your family without having to cook anything. A basic garden salad is the quickest and simplest. There are bags of premade salad available at pretty much any grocery store in the produce department. All you have to do is cut up some tomatoes, slice some cucumbers, and sprinkle some shredded cheese and you have a ready made meal made with nothing but uncooked food.

If you and your gang like salad, but prefer some sort of meat on it, you have a few options available to you without having to cook. While you cannot eat or use raw meat, there are some types of meats available that are precooked, such as ham chunks. Ham chunks are usually kept in the same area as the lunch meat, and do not require cooking. They are a great addition to any salad, as well as crackers or a piece of bread. Bacon bits can also be offered.

In addition to regular garden salads, fruit salads are also an option when it comes to recipes that do not require cook time. Fruit salad is made by chopping up different types of fruit and nuts and mixing them together in a bowl. It is best when served cold, but does not require chilling in order to be good. Whip cream can be added to any kind of fruit salad to enhance the taste. There are no specific fruits you have to include or omit from fruit salad. The fruits used for recipes of this nature are up to the individual preparing them and their preferred tastes.

Fruit and vegetable trays are another way to feed people quickly and easily with only raw food. Not only is this a healthy way to eat, the raw fruit and vegetables are refreshing on a hot, summer day. Fruit dips like peanut butter and caramel can be presented, along with veggie dips like ranch dressing and French onion dip.

Recipes where you do not have to cook are very popular during the summer months but can be prepared and enjoyed any time of the year.

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