Homemade for the Holidays

When it comes to home cooking, I can’t think of a better time of year. The holidays brings with it family food traditions, classic recipes and the tastes and smells of those recipes that you look forward to. Cooking during these months almost seems to be therapeutic for me.

While there are many holiday dinners that are planned around this time of year, I also love to do a lot of impromptu cooking and baking. The most successful way for me to do this is to keep my pantry well-stocked with ingredients that I know I’ll reach for time and time again — whether the recipes are sweet or savory.

The one ingredient that I’m reaching for constantly these days is Diamond Nuts. I’m particularly smitten with walnuts right now with their rich nutty flavor. Whether I’m incorporating them into baked breads or cakes, or tossing them with sautéed or roasted vegetables, the added crunch and flavor along with the nutrition are too good to pass up. We’ve been making my Pecan Crumble Cake for a last-minute family dessert and Walnut Banana Bread Pudding for special weekend breakfasts. When it comes to savory dishes, I’m addicted to making my Walnut Pesto right now. I’ll make a big batch, then freeze the extras in ice cube trays for single servings of pesto that can be used for a last-minute weeknight meal or for a simple spread on a crostini when hosting a party.

The added tasty flavor and texture that nuts bring your homemade cooking is unmatched. They’re a pantry staple that make a big difference in my recipes and without a doubt made for homemade™!

–Kelsey Nixon

Source :http://blog.cookingchanneltv.com

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Best Chili Recipe

his blue ribbon chili is the best chili recipe you'll ever make. With surprise ingredients like beer and unsweetened cocoa, the blend of seasonings and flavors creates a mouth watering chili that will have them begging for the recipe. For the brave souls that like more fire, double the hot sauce to kick it up a notch.

This chili has been taste tested by people that have searched high and low for the best chili recipe and they agreed...it is definitely a winner!

Chili Tip: if you accidentally add too much hot sauce or spice to your chili, serve it with sour cream or extra cheese on top. Dairy contains a protein called casein that cools the burning heat of spicy foods.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lb. lean chuck, ground

1 lb. lean pork, ground

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 cup finely chopped onion

8 oz. hunt's tomato sauce

1 cup water

1 can beer (12 oz.)

3 Tablespoons chili powder 

2 Tablespoons instant beef bouillon (or 6 cubes)

2 Tablespoons cumin, ground

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons oregano leaves 

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon coriander, ground

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa 

1/2 teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce 

1 teaspoon cornmeal

1 teaspoon flour

1 teaspoon warm water

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan brown 1 1/4 pounds of the ground meat (the beef and the pork), drain the fat.

2. Remove meat (the beef and the pork). Brown the rest of the ground meat, drain all but 2 tablespoons of the fat.

3. Add the garlic and onion, cook and stir until tender.

4. Add the other half of the meat and the tomato sauce, water, beer, chili powder, bouillon, cumin, paprika, oregano, sugar, coriander, cocoa, and hot sauce. Mix well.

5. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered , for 2 hours.

6. In a small bowl, stir together the cornmeal and flour, then add the warm water and mix well.

7. Stir into chili and cook, covered, for an additional 20 minutes.

 Source :http://www.momswhothink.com

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Meatloaf

We've put together easy recipes that even the pickiest eaters will love. Most people are busy, between families and careers and the endless demands of day to day life.

Easy recipes solve the problem of finding the time to make a home cooked meal.

Our list of easy recipes gives you great tasting meals, desserts, and even eight weeks worth of easy dinner recipes. Instead of an overpriced restaurant meal, choose from one of the hundreds of delicious easy recipes below.

Source :http://www.momswhothink.com

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Turkey Fried Rice

Fried rice is a rice recipe that originated in china but its indo chinese version has become one of the favorites all indians. Rice sauteed with veggies and soy sauce makes a wonderful delicacy. It can be had just by itself without any sidedish. The following is the recipe for chicken fried rice. The recipe can be modified to get turkey fried rice, mutton fried rice, pork fried rice, beef fried rice or even shrimp fried rice using the appropiate meat. The meatless versions are egg fried rice and vegetable fried rice. For egg fried rice, just skip the meat and increase the number of eggs by 6. For vegetable fried rice, just skip the eggs and meat..

Ingredients

Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Carrot  - 1
Celery sticks - 2
(You can also use other vegetables like Capsicum, Cabbage, snap peas, green beans, corn, peas, asparagus etc etc.)
Egg scrambled - 2
Ground Pepper- 2 tblsp
Soy sauce - as needed
Boneless skinless chicken- as needed (canned chicken breast can be used)
Salt - to taste
Chicken boulion cubes(optional)
Ginger Garlic paste - 2 tsp
scallions(green onion) - 1 bunch

Tips
     - You can also add other vegetables like red cabbage, white caggage, leeks, fennel, green peas, corn etc. Just finely chop them like thin match sticks or grate them.

Method
1. Cook the rice seperately(1 cup rice : 1.5 cup water ratio)
2. Chop the carrot and celery sticks using blender or by hand .
3. If canned chicken is used drain the excess water and cook in the microwave for 2 
minutes and shred it.If using the fresh chicken blanch it and shred it.
4. In a wok add little butter add ginger garlic paste and fry the shredded chicken
5. Remove the chicken from wok now add little more butter fry the chopped carrot with salt and pepper.
6. After removing the carrot, fry the chopped celery with butter ,salt and pepper.
7. Similarly fry the green onions with little butter and keep aside.
8. Now in the same wok fry the rice ,little soy sauce and add the fried chicken, scrambled egg, carrot, celery and green onions and fry all together(add salt and pepper as needed).
9. Do step 8 in small batches so that all the ingredients will blend together.

Tips
        - You can add 1/4 tsp of ajinomoto with the fried rice for extra flavour.

Source :http://simpleindianrecipes.com

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Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

All Purpose flour-1 1/2 cups
Baking powder -1 1/2 teaspoons
Salt    -1/4 teaspoon
Butter at room temperature -1/2 cup
Sugar   -1/2 cup
Egg yolk, slightly beaten -1
Milk    -3 tablespoons
Vanilla extract -1/2 teaspoon

Method
1.In a mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder and salt.
2.In another bowl cream the butter with a hand mixer for 2-3 minutes. Add sugar to it gradually and beating each time.
3.Add egg yolk to it and mix well.
4.Add the dry ingredients alternately with milk to the butter bowl and mix it.
5.Add vanilla and mix it.
6.In a cling wrap or plastic sheet chill the dough in fridge for 1 hour.
7.Preheat the oven to 375ºF
8.Roll out the dough on to a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 1/4".
9.Cut with cookie cutters(I have used a star cookie cutter).
10.Sprinkle some colored sugar on the cookies before keeping it in oven
11.Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes. Check if the sides are brown its done.
12.Let the cookies cool down for 15 minutes and then serve.

Source :http://simpleindianrecipes.com

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Nankhatai

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
Unsalted Butter/Ghee - 1/2 cup 
Powdered Sugar - 1/2 cup
Cardomom Powder - 1/4 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Pistachios/Raisins/Cashews/Almond - for garnish

Method:

1. Take a mixing bowl with the room temperature butter in it.  Add the powdered sugar to it and cream together till the mixture becomes light and fluffy.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients (flour, cardamom powder, baking powder and salt) into a seperate bowl.
3. Add this to the creamed butter mixture little at a time and keep mixing. Knead it to form a soft dough. Cover the dough and let it rest in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 C). Make small gooseberry sized balls of the dough. Smoothen the balls by rolling in between your palm. You can also use a cookie cutter to shape the cookies.
5. Place each ball in a cookie sheet. Leave some space in between as the cookies will expand when it bakes. If you want to make it more rich, press a pistachio or raisin or cashew or almond on top of the balls gently.
6. Bake at 300 degrees for 12-15 minutes until the bottom of the cookies turn light golden brown.
7. Remove from the oven and gently transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. The cookies will be very soft at this stage.
8. After it cools completely, store in an air tight container for upto a month. Serve as a snack with a cup of tea.

Variations:
    - You can make ragi biscuits by using ragi flour instead of all purpose flour.

You can also add some 1 tblsp of cocoa powder along with the flour and makechocolate cookies.

For crunchy biscuits, replace 1 cup flour by 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup of rava and 1/4 cup crushed nuts.

Source :http://simpleindianrecipes.com

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