Tips and Tricks in Making a Salad

A Green Salad is a very important dish in your diet. It is an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and fiber, but people do not generally include salads in their diet. This is because they do not realize the benefits which they can take from them. Lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and beets all add in your typical salad and they have great nutritional value and several health benefits.
But to make a healthy and delicious green salad plate, there are two secrets that you should know:
1-Colors; the more colors you add to the salad, the more delicious it looks. Kids also like a colorful salad.
2-Dressing; a nice dressing is what makes a perfect salad. A salad dressing is one of the most important ingredients for a delicious salad. Ready made salad dressings are great when you need to save time but if you like experimenting in the kitchen like I do, and knowing exactly what goes into your food, then making your own salad dressing is a sure bet for a fun event! Might even save a bit of money too. So I figured out the best salad dressing ingredients but of course you can add any other ingredients that you like.
But first, I will show you how to make a delicious green salad plate.
Ingredients:
For the salad:
• 1 tomato, sliced
• 1 cucumber, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, cut into thin slices
• 1 red pepper, cut into thin slices
• 1 yellow pepper, cut into thin slices
• 1 cup romaine lettuce, cut into bite size
• 1 cup green salad cabbage, chopped
• 1 cup red salad cabbage, chopped
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 2 tablespoon red kidney beans
• 2 tablespoon black olives sliced
• 2 tablespoon green olives sliced
• 2 tablespoon chopped beets
• 3 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 3 tablespoon chopped dill
• Fresh crushed mint leaves
Ingredients for the dressing:
To save time, you can make a large batch and keep it in a jar in the refrigerator. All you need is:
• Extra virgin olive oil
• White vinegar (or balsamic vinegar if you like a sweet taste)
• Lemon juice
• Crushed or minced garlic
• pomegranate molasses
• Minced fresh shallots, chives or spring onion
• Fresh minced or dried crushed herbs such as mint leaves, basil, rosemary and thyme.
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper
• half teaspoon chili powder (optional)
• Mayonnaise and sour cream if you like a creamy dressing.
Preparation:
• Mix all the ingredients of the salad in a large salad bowl.
• Make the dressing by mixing all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
• Pour the dressing on the salad and toss.
• If required the salad can be chilled for half an hour before serving.
I hope you've found some of the content here useful and wish you the best of luck with your healthy lifestyle!

Discover how to cook delicious dinner recipes. For more cooking tips and new dinner ideas from Marwa M. Aref ( Mrs. Mom), please visit http://www.yumyumi.com
You are welcomed to download for FREE my e-cookbook "MY FREE RECIPES" which is a cookbook including dinner recipes from all over the world with mouth watering pictures. Home-made recipes with simple ingredients found in every kitchen. More than 100 dinner ideas from my own kitchen, recipes I have used for years and have become favorites in my home.

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5 Great Reasons To Drink Champagne

5 Great Reasons To Drink ChampagnePeople often associate Champagne only with special events like Weddings, Christenings, and more, but it really is a wonderful wine suitable for many occasions. There really needs to be no mystique about it, it is simply wine, although certainly one of the great white wines of the world. And besides Champagne, which is always from Champagne, France, hence its name, there are also many wonderful and often much less expensive sparkling wines from other areas of the world such as Italy, California, Spain, and even England. We will treat all sparkling wines together below, and anywhere we say Champagne realize you can substitute any sparkling wine you enjoy.
1) A special event is the traditional reason to open a bottle or more. The Wedding toast for example, is a classic reason. An anniversary celebration is another. I'm sure you have many other special events that may be appropriate as well.
2) Brunch is a great time to enjoy a glass, hence the term Champagne Brunch. It is not only very food friendly, but it also goes extremely well with eggs, whether a simple dish like fried or scrambled eggs, or something more complicated like Eggs Benedict or a Frittata. Of course it can also be mixed with orange juice to make a classic Mimosa, a common brunch libation. Not surprisingly, most people tend to do this on lazy Sundays as it just doesn't fit into most people's busy weekdays!
3) Dinner! Yes, dinner is an excellent reason to serve Champagne. You can serve it as an aperitif, perhaps with appetizers, or even with the meal itself. If serving the entire evening, you may want to start with a Blanc de blancs, which is made of all Chardonnay and usually quite light and crisp, move onto a traditional Champagne with the main course, and consider serving a demi-sec, a sweet version, with dessert. Although it won't match well with a Prime Rib or other big piece or red meat, it goes well with most other dishes.
4) When friends stop by. I usually keep a bottle in my refrigerator in case friends unexpectedly stop by. There is just something classy and inviting about offering a glass of Champagne, whether the offer is accepted or not. And if it's someone you find attractive, it can be quite romantic too!
5) Any party is a great time to serve Champagne! I'll often serve it first, sometimes only to the people who arrive on time. Do this a few times and people won't be late anymore!

Much more information is available at Champagne and Claude Genet Champagne. We go into the various styles of Champagne, and give some specific recommendations of ones we love at all price points.

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Vegetable Juice Recipes

Vegetable Juice Recipes
if you're wondering how on earth you're ever going to eat your "Minimum Daily Requirement" of fruits and vegetables each day, here's a quick and easy solution. Juicing!
The "MDR" varies according to your age, but to simplify it's about 2-3 cups each of fruits and vegetables for adult men and a half cup less of each for women. But remember that the "M" in MDR stands for the minimum amount needed to maintain a healthy body as determined by the US Department of Agriculture nutritional research, not the optimum amount that makes you feel your best!
Whether your goal is minimum or optimum, juicing is the fastest way to ingest and absorb all the nutrients in fruits and vegetables. One pound of produce makes just one cup of fresh juice, so a glass or two a day will do it! And because juicing separates the juice from the fiber, your body absorbs more nutrients faster than if you had eaten the fruit or vegetable whole. And keep in mind that store-bought juice must be pasteurized. This process destroys many good nutrients such as enzymes. And commercially made juice is not fresh or chemical-free.
Juicing is also the best way to ingest green vegetables. These are considered "superfoods" because they are packed with minerals, protein, and alkalizing nutrients, but they are not very tasty. You can simply eliminate their bitter taste by juicing them with other more flavorful foods such as carrots, apples, berries, and bananas.
You can use your creative juices and experiment with fruit and vegetable combinations that suit your taste. If you're worried about wasting time and expensive produce on combos that might taste terrible, just pick up a juicing recipe book to guide you. It will also provide combinations that prevent and even fight a wide variety of illnesses.
Here are my absolute favorite vegetable juice recipes - one for the sweet tooth and one that's spicy:
Sweet Veggie Juice
6 carrots - only peel half the surface!
2 stalks celery - with the greens!
2 sprigs mint or 1"ginger
Spicy Veggie Juice
2 tomatoes - skin and all!
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
½ beet
1 leaf spinach
½ handful fresh parsley
4 sprigs watercress
sea salt and pepper to taste
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Horseradish to taste
Remember to wash your produce to reduce pesticides. Better yet use your own garden grown or farmers' market organic produce to eliminate chemicals altogether. Even large grocery stores now have organic lines of fruits and vegetables - they cost a bit more, but your health is well worth it!
Most juicing appliances are made to be durable so you can juice stems and seeds without harming the appliance. Pits and large seeds should be removed as well as hard husks and skins. Most juicers will clog if you throw in a banana or avocado, so place these in a blender and then combine it with your juiced produce. If you don't want to buy a juicer, you can use a blender but you have to strain the juice or it tastes sandy!
Some people juice entire citrus fruits, rind and all, such as lemons, limes, oranges, and even grapefruit! I'm not one of them. I discard the peel, but I do juice that white pith which is packed with nutrients. Melons also can be juiced in their entire, just beware that the skin adds bitterness to the flavor.
And one more quick tip, don't bother to store your juice by refrigerating or freezing - most of the nutrients value is lost after 24 hours. Some foods such as broccoli, cauliflower, and melon, start losing their nutrients right after you juice them. So it's best to drink your fresh juice right away. If you must store something, freeze the produce, not the juice.
Absolutely nothing is more thirst quenching and good for you - and your children! - than a quick glass of home-made juice. And with juicing, there's no cooking and no pans to clean. So start juicing today!

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Make A Food Menu

How to Make a Food Menu

Making a menu can be very beneficial when you have a busy lifestyle, because you don't have to worry about what you are going to make for breakfast, lunch, or supper, because it is already decided for you. My mom taught me this trick when I first got married, and it has turned out to be very helpful, especially since in am juggling being a full time college student, work full time, and have a house to keep clean.

Before you can make a menu, I have all found that the easiest thing to do is to go through all of your cookbooks and write down the name of the recipe you like, the page number, and the title of the cookbook onto a index card and place it in a recipe card holder. You should do this for every cookbook you have, and for every recipe you like. This makes choosing recipes much easier, and you get a better variety of foods and you are able to use all of your cookbooks this way. You also need to make sure you have dividers for your recipe card holders, with titles such as, sandwiches, pastas, poultry, fish, pork, beef, casseroles, cookies, desserts, cakes, soups and salads, appetizers, etc. The number and type of dividers you have will all depend on the amount and types of recipes you have. I have six recipe card holder full of recipes, but I have been doing this for 3 years. You will start out small, and trust me, it will grow.

Now that you have all of your recipes ready to make your menu the first thing you need to do is sit down with all of your recipe cards. My mom and I make a monthly menu, and then split it up into weeks, that way, you only have to spend time picking recipes once a month instead of weekly. Because we don't like having to choose what we are going to make, we pick the first few recipes out of every section to make for that month, then once you have made it, you put it to the back of its section. This allows you to try a large variety of recipes instead of making the same things over and over. Depending on the number of meals you have to make and the variety of meals you like, you will choose a different number of recipes from each section. This becomes the same every month once you figure out how you like to balance your meals.

Now that you have your recipes for the month, it is time to make a grocery list. Yes, you are going to make a grocery list for the entire month, but don't worry, you won't get all of them at the same time. This is just to make sure you buy everything you need. All you need to do is go through every recipe and write down the ingredient you don't have. And that is your monthly grocery list.

For my family, I choose seven poultry dishes, six pork dishes, four fish dishes, six casseroles, four sandwiches, four Mexican dishes, eight breakfasts, ten side dishes, two desserts, one cookies, and one cake. We eat supper every night and take leftovers for lunch at work. I only choose ten side dishes, because I like to make the plain old ordinary sides too, like mashed potatoes, rice, butter noodles and things like that, and I don't need recipes for those, so I just make sure I write them on my weekly menu. I choose eight breakfasts, because every Saturday and Sunday I make us a nice breakfast. I also like to make one dessert a week, so I choose four different dessert/cookie/cake recipes. As you can see this gives you a great variety of foods.

Now that you know what you are going to be making during the month, it is time to split them up into weeks. You do this so you know what groceries need to be bought each week. Just like with choosing your monthly menu, your weekly menu needs to have variety too. You don't want to be eating all chicken dishes one week and casseroles the next, so grab the top recipe of every category until you have the number of recipes you need to feed your family for one week. This too helps you from having to make decisions. Remember, casseroles don't need side dishes, so you will have to pay attention so you plan enough sides for recipes that need them.

Now you can make you first weekly grocery list. How I do this is I get the weekly ad from our local grocery store, and if they have meat on sale that I am needing anytime during the month I put it on my list so I can get it for a cheaper price and freeze it if I don't need it right away. Buying family size meat packs also helps save money. If there are any other sales on foods that I am needing during the month that has a decent shelf life, so things like canned goods and bread, since bread can be frozen, I put them on the list too. Every time you put an item on your weekly list, make sure you cross it off on your monthly list, so you don't buy it again when you don't need to. Make sure you go through every recipe you are making that week and write down the ingredients you need, crossing them off of the monthly list at the same time. Now you are ready to get groceries, and will be set for one week.

But before you are done, you need to decide what you are going to make each day. This helps you know if you need to have meats thawed out so you can thaw them the safest way, in the refrigerator. This also allows you to plan ahead for nights that you have to make a quick meal, so you can make your sandwich for the week that day, or have something going in the crock pot so it will be ready when you get home from work, and you can eat and do whatever you have planned for that evening. Now remember, things will come up that you may have to switch you menu around, but that is what white out is for.

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Low Cholesterol Recipes

Delicious Recipes for Lowering Cholesterol
When you have high cholesterol it can be hard to change your lifestyle and do things that are the healthiest for you. Food is one area where you can make simple changes that will impact your overall health dramatically. By increasing your intake of good nutritious foods you can lower cholesterol and see improvements in your health.
If you have favorite recipes that you don't want to lose because of your new dietary changes don't worry. Most recipes can easily be adapted to be heart healthier. Choose leaner cuts of meat. Pick the non-fat or low-fat dairy option. Add in vegetables or tofu where you can. By making some of these smaller changes you can still enjoy the recipes you love without the negative effects of bad cholesterol.
Of course, when looking to make these changes it helps to have recipes for lowering cholesterol to help get you started.
Recipes for Lowering Cholesterol
Fish is one of the best foods that you can eat for lowering cholesterol and salmon is one of the best fishes that you can eat. Here is a simple and delicious recipe for lowering cholesterol using salmon.
Salmon Patties
Ingredients:
2 large pieces of salmon shredded with the skin and bone removed
1 cup of bread crumbs
2 tablespoons minced pimento
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
¼ cup light mayonnaise
½ teaspoon hot sauce (optional)
Grease a cookie sheet and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl combine the salmon, bread crumbs, pimento, onion and herbs. Stir until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add in the mayonnaise and hot sauce. Stir again. When fully combined shape the mixture into four patties. Bake the patties for 15 minutes or until the edges are crispy.
This meal can be served on a whole wheat bun or as a stand-alone. Enjoy!
You might be thinking that the only recipes for lowering cholesterol will be boring. You might think that desserts or alcohol are all things of that past, but it doesn't have to be that way. You can still have desserts and alcohol. Here is one tasty recipe for lowering cholesterol that has both.
Raisin Rum Cake
Ingredients:
3 ½ cups whole wheat flour
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons baking soda
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 cup light mayonnaise
½ light milk
2 eggs
1 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts
½ cup dark rum
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease to 9 inch round baking pans. In a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and cloves. One at a time add in the mayonnaise, milk, and eggs. Beat on a high speed for 2 minutes. Finally stir in the raisins, walnuts, and rum. Pour into the pans and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a fork inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Serve topped with your favorite light whipped cream.

Paul is a health conscious person and takes good care of his heart by following a healthy lifestyle. He loves to share information and resources about cholesterol and how to decrease cholesterol naturally. To know more about cholesterol and on how you can reduce your cholesterol levels by following these recipes for lowering cholesterol,

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Best Restaurant

Best Restaurants in Aiken

During your stay in Aiken, South Carolina you are sure to discover many great restaurants. Here is a list of restaurants that are worth visiting while you are here.

· 100 Laurens: Located at the corner of Richland Avenue & Laurens Street, this Tapas restaurant boasts of a wide variety of global dishes. All the dishes are brought to your table "hot off the grill". You can enjoy live acoustic music every Thursday and a comedy night every month! The hotel encourages a "smart casual" dress code, hence no sports jerseys, warm up pants, sleeveless or cut-off shirts for men are allowed.

· Aiken Brewing Company- This colourful little restaurant and microbrewery is a must-visit for anyone who loves their food and beer. It is located in the heart of Aiken and boasts of some great homebrews. The ribs and chicken wings are great and the place is an ideal spot to go to with your family and friends.

· CurryPot - If you are a fan of fine Indian fare, visit CurryPot for a wide variety of Indian food made by their expert chef. You can sample several Indian dishes during their daily lunch buffet or choose to have dinner here. Take out is available as well. The restaurant is located on Pine log road.

· Malia's- It remains one of Aiken's best fine dining restaurants with great food and service. Food is prepared using local produce which lends a unique flavour to it and the menu changes on a daily basis. The lunch and dinner menu is updated on the restaurant website. Don't forget to reserve your table when you plan to visit as the restaurant is always crowded and it is hard to find a free table.

· Applebee's- For an affordable and enjoyable in a friendly atmosphere, Applebee's is always a good bet. This popular neighbourhood restaurant which opened its doors in in 1980 has grown to become in over 2000 neighbourhoods across America today. You can try the Pick 'N Pair Lunch Combos or even choose from a wide variety of burgers, pasta and seafood. Located on Whiskey Road, this eatery is popular among people of all ages and lifestyles and draws huge crowds with its fun, family-friendly atmosphere. Its signature bar and grill menu is worth a try.

· Linda's Bistro - This fine dining restaurant located at York St., SE boasts of unique food in the form of simple food presented elegantly. The herbs and spices add a unique favour to the food and the service is inviting. Reservations are not always necessary, but recommended!

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Coffe Cake

Coffee cake is a wonderful American tradition. They are often served at breakfast, but that does not mean that you should overlook stirring one up any time of the day. Along with breakfast, it is not unusual to see this wonderfully flavorful cake showing up at brunch as well, and many enjoy serving them as a dessert at the end of the meal. Regardless of when you find this traditional style of cake, you can be sure that it will bring back delightful memories from a simpler time of life.
As with other specialty desserts, it begins with an easy to create basic recipe that lends itself well to the addition of different ingredients. It is easy to stir in different fruits to make a special delight for family members or guests who have shown a great affinity for those fruits.
Coffee cake is a very versatile goodie that can be shared with family and friends as well as making a great hostess gift. Kids like munching on these delightful cakes when served with a glass of milk. You can even bake one up quickly in the morning to share at the office or as part of a potluck breakfast at church. They are easily transported which makes them perfect even for bringing along to picnics.
Coffee Cake May be an American Tradition now but they began long before America was Settled. Contrary to popular opinion, the original cake was not invented in a bakery shop in Colonial America. It was an evolutionary process that brought it to where it is today. They can be traced back to a period long before the Pilgrims settled on this continent. These cakes are similar in nature to the first honey bars that got their start way back centuries ago. They found their way to America as immigrants of Scandinavian, German and Dutch descent brought with them the formulas they knew and loved as their own special contribution to the American experience.
Of course, there is no way that we should eliminate any of the various national origins from the list of those who have contributed to the many variations of the humble but very tasty breakfast cake. Everyone who enjoys this quick and easy way to create a delicious cake has left their own mark.
Coffee cake may have received its name originally, due to the addition of coffee to the mixture that renders a lovely, light and scrumptious dish, but today it is rare to find coffee as one of the ingredients in most cases. It is the Scandinavians influence that has often been given credit for the evolution of this pastry having a sweeter taste today. It seems that they loved having something more sugary when they took their coffee breaks. This tastier variety seems to be the result of their own personal tastes.
Coffee cakes today are typically found flavored with fruits, nuts, and cinnamon, and where would we be without those heavenly flavors. Historians will tell you that the development of coffee cakes proliferated during Colonial times when recipes were handed down from one homemaker to the next by word-of-mouth, and later began to show up in cookbooks of the period. We are grateful to those first efforts that later ended up helping us to enjoy the wonders of these treats.

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