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 Last weekend we had a barbecue at our house.
We didn't want the standard fare of grilled meats, so we opted
for marinated salmon kebabs, homemade pizza, and other scrumptious
treats-including a raspberry meringue with fresh cream. The only
problem we had was that we couldn't remember the proportions
for the meringue. What to do with only hours before the 30+ hungry
guests arrived? Search the Internet - what else!
While I was growing up, a corner
of the kitchen in my parents' house was dedicated to cookbooks.
Now I just have an electronic folder containing bookmarked recipe
sites that lives in my Internet browser under Favorite Sites.
The Internet has allowed me to save hundreds of dollars building
up a cookbook library, and this article hopes to save you hours
of time searching the Web by presenting you with 16 varied food-related
sites with brief descriptions of each.
Many of the sites offer search mechanisms,
categorized options, nutritional information, and loads of links.
Some even allow you to e-mail recipes to friends and to establish
your own recipe book of favorites. Many are compiled from reader
contributions and encourage you to share your family secrets
too.
http://www.allrecipes.com/
This is a very user-friendly site. The printouts are excellent,
and you can print them in either full size or recipe card format.
A great site. Hats off to the Webmaster. It has many categories:
soups, pastas, cakes, breads, cookies, Thanksgiving, Christmas,
and soon a Chicken site. All of the categories exist as their
own sites each with subcategories, including vegetarian, egg
free, gluten free, etc. Nutritional values are not given .
http://www.cookierecipe.com/
My favorite link from the above site! Like allrecipies.com, this
site doesn't give nutritional values, but, wow, what a site!
Cookies are categorized in ways I never thought of and include
many healthy, nonegg, gluten-free, no-bake, varieties. You've
just gotta look!
Meals for You
http://www.mymenus.com/
WOW! Most people have to hire a nutritionist and live-in cook
to get the information this site provides in an easy-to-use format.
It contains nutritional content, it's categorized, generates
shopping lists adjusted to number of servings, offers choice
of measurement systems, meal planning, and more. As I said: WOW!
Recipe Finder
http://homearts.com/waisform/recipesp.htm
Interesting concept: you list ingredients and it searches for
appropriate recipes (mostly sourced from established cookbooks).
It's kind of slow but will probably improve with time. Check
back in a month or so when you just don't know what to do with
those three tomatoes, two potatoes, tofu, bag of peanuts, and
carrots in the fridge. Homearts will find you a recipe or two!
YumYum.Com
http://www.yumyum.com/
Quantity, not quality, is what makes this site impressive. You'll
find more than 20,000 recipes. Need I say more?
Student Recipes
http://www.yumyum.com/student/
Supplying you with the basics of cooking with simple instructions
(the word "just" is used a lot!), this site should
be a must bookmark for any students or anyone else just finding
their way about the kitchen--or anyone who wants to cook up some
easy meals! You'll find great simple recipes, which anyone can
follow, and you can print out the "basic kitchen tool list"
for any first-time home-leavers.
Vegetarian and Fat-Free
http://www.vegsource.org/recipe/
A great site with links to fat-free recipes. Very well categorized
with lots of ethnic dishes. Many of the recipes are reader-contributed,
which guarantees a wide variety from gourmet to grunge.
Diabetic
http://diabeticgourmet.com/diabetic/
The Diabetic Gourmet Magazine's site. Has superb recipes plus
a link to their main page with excellent information for diabetics
on topics other than food. This site is worth a look for anyone
interested in healthy recipes, not just for diabetics.
Granny's Kitchen
http://www.grannyskitchen.com/
I wasn't sure about adding this huge site until I went to the
Hints and Tips page at http://www.grannyskitchen.com/harchive.htm,
where I found great stuff! Dedicated to the Webmaster's grandmother.
All grannies would be proud to have this site named after them!
Star Chefs
http://www.starchefs.com/
For the budding gourmets, here are recipes of famous chefs, including:
Jean George Vongerichten (Jean George's and Vongs) and Emeril
Lagasse. James Beard Awards link, loads of recipes-and the essential
gift shop!
Food TV
http://www.foodtv.com/
If you are a fan of the Food Network, then you probably already
know this site. Has great links to their programs, chefs, recipes,
menus, etc.
Healthy Heart
http://www.healthyfridge.org/mainmenu.html
Not many recipes but good tips on having a healthy fridge and
a great "What should I choose chart?" at http://www.healthyfridge.org/choose.html
Diet Site
http://www.dietsite.com/
http://www.dietsite.com/nutr/index.htm
If you are dieting or planning to, or are just plain interested
in the nutritional value of your current diet, give yourself
an hour to get into this site. It analysis your diet, analyzes
recipes, charts your progress, and provides RDA requirements
and nutritional content of almost any food you eat. This is a
really comprehensive site. It also includes sports nutrition,
alternative nutrition, nutrition facts, and loads of information.
The diet analysis is just a small part of this superb site.
Busy Cooks
http://busycooks.miningco.com/
The Mining Company does it again with a one-page Web guide to
quick references for recipes and food-related stuff on the Web.
Check this out if you aren't too hungry and have time to play.
I specifically like the Quick Complete Menus link.
There are hundreds of Web sites
with recipes. Many are homepages, commercial sites set up by
companies such as Ragu and Nabisco, even a site dedicated to
"famous recipes" like Mrs. Fields cookies and McDonalds
secret sauce ( finding a few good ones took a lot of time). I
have tried here to provide a varied list that allows for expansion
by exploring each site's links. Explore, have fun, and bon appetite!
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Four-Cheese Lasagna
(Prep: 10 min, Cook: 50 min.)
* 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. unsalted butter
* 1/3 cup all purpose flour
* 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
* 4 cups milk
* 1 lb. part skim ricotta cheese
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/3 cup parsley, chopped and 4 sprigs reserved for garnish
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 lb. shredded fat-free mozzarella cheese
* 3/4 lb. Fontina cheese, shredded
* 3/4 lb. no boil lasagna noodles
* 1/2 cup oil packed sun dried tomatoes, chopped
Prepare white sauce by melting butter
in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in next 2 ingredients until
blended and cook 1 minute. Gradually stir in milk. Cook, stirring
constantly, until sauce boils and thickens. Remove saucepan from
heat. Mix next 4 ingredients in a bowl with fork. Combine shredded
mozzarella and fontina In another bowl. Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a 13x9 inch ceramic or glass baking dish, evenly spoon 1 cup
white sauce. Arrange 1/3 of lasagna noodles over sauce, overlapping
to fit and making sure that noodles do not touch sides of baking
dish. Spoon half of ricotta mixture over noodles, spread with
1 cup white sauce and top with half of remaining noodles. Reserve
2 cups shredded cheese. Place remaining shredded cheese over
noodles, then sprinkle with dried tomatoes and spread with 1
cup sauce. Arrange remaining noodles over sauce, top with remaining
ricotta mixture, remaining sauce, and reserved shredded cheese.
Cover baking dish with foil and bake 25 minutes. Remove foil
and bake 15-20 minutes longer until lasagna is hot and bubbly
and top is lightly browned. Remove from oven and let stand 10
minutes for easier serving. Garnish with parsley sprigs.
This recipe serves 12 people. Because
the recipe is for a particular size pan, it adjusts the number
of servings only in multiples of 12.
Per serving: calories 469, fat 23.3g,
45% calories from fat, cholesterol 127mg, protein 30.7g, carbohydrates
32.5g, fiber 1.4g, sodium 692mg.
The recommended wines are: Pinot
Noir, Merlot, or Zinfandel. |
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Stuffed Bell Peppers (Bharva
hari mirch)
From Lite and Luscious Cuisine of India by Madhu Gadia, M.S.,
R.D.
Prep: 15 min, Cook: 20 min.
* 8 lbs. small green bell peppers
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 1 Tbs. mustard seeds
* 7-3/4 lbs. shredded cabbage
* 6-1/4 cups carrots, grated
* 1-1/2 tsp. turmeric
* 1/4 cup salt
* 1/4 cup coriander
* 1 Tbs. cayenne pepper (optional)
Wash and dry the bell peppers. Cut
the bell peppers lengthwise (from the stem side) in half. Remove
the seeds and cut out the pulp part near the stem, leaving the
pepper in a cup-like form. Set aside. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large,
nonstick fry pan over medium heat. Add mustard seeds, covering
with a lid to avoid splattering. Fry for a few seconds until
the mustard seeds stop popping. Add the shredded cabbage and
carrots. Stir. Add turmeric, salt, coriander and cayenne pepper
and stir. Cover with a lid, heat through, reduce heat and simmer
for 5-7 minutes. The vegetables should be slightly tender. If
there is any excess liquid accumulated at the bottom of the pan,
increase heat to evaporate it. Remove from the heat and cool
to room temperature. Divide cabbage mixture into eight equal
parts. Stuff the bell pepper halves with the mixture. Clean the
fry pan and heat the remaining 2/3 cup plus 2 Tbs. oil over medium
heat. Place the stuffed bell peppers in the hot oil with the
stuffed side facing up. Reduce heat, cover with a lid and simmer
for 10-12 minutes until the bell peppers become tender. The bottom
of the bell peppers will be slightly black. Transfer the bell
peppers to a serving tray.
Per serving: calories 38, fat 2.3g,
51% calories from fat, cholesterol 0mg, protein 0.7g, carbohydrates
4.3g, fiber 1.4g, sodium 265mg.
Exchanges: 1 Vegetable. |
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Healthy Banana Cookies
K.Gailbrath
These cookies are nutritious, as
well as delicious.
Makes 3 dozen
Ingredients:
3 large bananas
1 cup chopped dates
2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup cooking oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas.
Stir in oats, dates, oil and vanilla. Mix well and allow to sit
for 15 minutes.
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an
ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until brown.
Makes 8 -10 dozen. |
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Egg Free Chocolate Chip Pumpkin
Cookies
Submitted by Arlene Hansberger
This is a wonderful recipe when there are no eggs in the house
and you have to make cookies. They are a very moist cookies and
freeze well.
Ingredients:
2 cups white sugar
1 cup shortening
1 (15 1/2 ounce) can solid pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Cream the sugar, shortening, pumpkin and vanilla together.
Mix until light and well combined.
3. Mix the flour, baking soda and ground cinnamon. Stir the flour
mixture into the creamed mixture. Mix until combined. Stir in
the chocolate chips.
4. Drop by teaspoons onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at
375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes or until set.
Let cookies cool on a rack. |
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