Delicious Venison Stew Recipe For Healthy and Economical Wild Game Cooking

Health considerations are one reason why there is a growing popularity of wild game. Venison contains about half the calories of beef, and has just one-eighth of the fat. Also, because of the low fat content, venison freezes well.

This flavorful venison stew recipe makes an inexpensive meal out of what can be an expensive piece of meat. It works perfectly for tougher cuts of venison, as the slow cooking tenderizes the meat nicely. This venison recipe also turns out great in the crockpot.

Ingredients:

1 pound venison stew meat, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium red bell pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cups unsalted beef stock

1/3 cup chili sauce

1/2 cup dried apricots, diced

1 14 1/2-ounce can white or yellow hominy

1 14 1/2-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon minced cilantro

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit, unless using a crockpot.

Toss the venison cubes with a light coating the oregano, salt, pepper, and cumin. Warm the oil in a frying pan over medium heat on the stove top. Brown quickly, then remove with a slotted spoon and place in a crockpot, dutch oven, or a large and heavy pot.

Saute the onion, garlic, and bell pepper in the remaining oil. When they have softened, spoon the vegetables from the pan and put in the larger pot with the venison. Add the beef stock, chili sauce, and apricots. Stir to combine, and cover the pot.

Cook the venison stew over in the pot over low heat (slow simmer) for at least 6 hours, stirring occasionally, and until the venison is tender.

During the last half hour of cooking, mix the hominy and black beans into the stew. Take the stew off the heat, stir in the lime juice, and add the tablespoon of cilantro.

Serve the venison stew hot, adding more cilantro, if desired. 

Can a Healthy Diet Recipe Actually Taste Good?

If your idea of "health food" is a simple green salad, then you haven't been eating the right kinds of foods. By using a healthy diet recipe book and trying out many recipes, you will find that you can eat healthy and tasty at the same time.

The benefits of any healthy meal plan are many, but for most people it is the weight loss that it promises that urges them to make the switch. It is certainly true that by removing processed foods from your diet, you will see immediate weight loss. It is actually hard to keep weight on when you are eating natural, healthy foods and cooking them the right way.

The truth is that if you go on a calorie-restricted diet, you will not have a fun time. You will constantly crave foods that you can't eat because your body won't be getting either the number of calories or the nutrition that it requires. However, when you switch to a healthy recipe plan, you will find that your cravings are gone and that you feel fuller than ever before. Losing weight on this kind of diet is easy.

That being said, the advantages of a healthy diet recipe plan go well beyond losing weight. In fact, the primary purpose of any healthy diet should be to put your entire body back into balance. With the amount of processed foods we eat these days, not to mention our stressful lifestyles, it is no wonder that so many of us are unhealthy. By eliminating toxins, chemicals, additives, colorings, and artificial flavorings from your foods, you will find that not only does food taste better, but that you lose weight, too. A healthy meal plan really does give you the best of both worlds and is something your family will appreciate.

Baked Chicken Drumstick Recipe - Eat Healthy and Well

A baked chicken drumstick recipe is a beauty to behold. It is easy to make, inexpensive, and good for you. A baked chicken drumstick recipe makes kids happy and can be served as an entree for a healthy lunch or dinner.

There is something about a good drumstick that is fun to eat and they fit well into your healthy diet plan. A good baked chicken drumstick recipe adds variety to your diet when you tire of ground beef casserole recipes or other inexpensive beef dishes.

Good Recipe With Drumsticks

The important thing to remember about making a baked chicken drumstick recipe is that you must remove the skin from the meat. There is a huge amount of fat in the skin and by removing it prior to cooking this unwanted fat could be easily discarded.

This simple step will also remove many unnecessary calories from your food.

That's a good thing.

Removing the skin can be done just before cooking. That will allow your chicken to retain an additional layer of protection if you store the meat in your freezer. This is especially important if you put time and effort into butchering a whole bird into more usable portions.

Losing your succulent chicken to freezer burn is one thing but to have wasted time and effort in addition to ruined meat is unacceptable.

Let's look at a baked chicken drumstick recipe you and your kids will enjoy.

Breaded Parmesan Drumsticks

Ingredients needed:
8 skinned chicken drumsticks
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 egg, beaten with a splash of water added
3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Mix the Parmesan cheese and the Italian seasoned breadcrumbs in a large bowl.
Beat egg and a splash of water in a separate bowl.
Dip the drumsticks in the beaten egg.
Roll the drumsticks in the Parmesan cheese/ Italian breadcrumb mix to coat.
Place the breaded drumsticks in a baking pan (preferably glass) that has been coated with olive oil.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Make It Healthier With Raw Vegetables

You can serve a raw vegetable platter while the chicken is cooking. Your children or guests will have good healthy food to munch on as the luscious smell of baking chicken permeates your home. In this way they will get the raw food enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and fiber found in these natural foods into them without a fight.

That's a good thing.

A baked chicken drumstick recipe is simple to prepare and serve. It is easy to extrapolate a good baked chicken drumstick recipe from any of the boneless skinless chicken breast recipes or oven baked chicken breast recipes found in cookbooks or on the Internet.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when baking chicken drumsticks is to overcook the meat. Be sure it is done but the meat will dry out and become less palatable if you cook it too long.

Allow them to rest for 10 minutes before serving. They continue cooking as they sit. Cut into your drumsticks to make sure there is no red blood or meat still present before serving.

This is an excellent time to serve a fresh garden salad because your guests will be salivating at the smell of roasted chicken and will eat a healthy amount of raw vegetables. Use body physiology and psychology to get raw vegetables into your family and friends. It will benefit them greatly in addition to supplying them with great tasting foods.

Any good baked chicken drumstick recipe can be served either hot or cold. They go especially well as picnic food. Try them and enjoy!

Healthy Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Make a healthier Grilled Cheese Sandwich than the one we ate when we were growing up.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 slices of Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat Bread
2 slices of 2% fat American cheese
2 seconds of olive oil cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Preheat skillet or pan with medium heat
2. Spray pan with 1 second of cooking spray
3. Place both slices of cheese between bread slices
4. Place cheese sandwich in preheated skillet
5. When bread is golden, spray one second cooking spray in pan and flip sandwich
6. Remove from skillet when the other side is golden

Facts:

-Cost per serving: 80 cents
-Calories per serving: 218 calories
-Protein per serving: 16.0 grams
-Carbohydrate grams: 24 grams
-Fat grams: 9 grams
-Sugar grams: 6 grams
-"Bad" Fat grams: 3 grams

Commentary:

I love this recipe and eat grilled cheese sandwiches often. These sandwiches taste great and are very easy to prepare. These sandwiches are also cheap and healthy because they are made with:

1. 100% stone ground whole wheat bread - the "stone ground" part is very important. It ensures you are getting all of the health benefits associated with whole grains

2. 2% fat cheese - You can use any low fast cheese for this recipe. I just happen to like American cheese. Low fat cheese is high in protein and calcium. Both can improve your health and help you lose weight

3. Olive oil cooking spray - You can use canola cooking spray also. Olive oil is good for you in moderation. It's healthy oil that can help decrease your bad cholesterol and improve your overall health.

Please consult your physician, registered dietitian, or certified fitness professional before starting or changing your diet or exercise program.

Cooking Eggs For Healthy Breakfasts

Breakfast is a very important meal in a day. You need healthy breakfasts to give you energy and vitamins for your daily activities. It is more important to children and teenagers because they still need nutrition for growth. Many people do not have time to prepare healthy breakfast for themselves because of they are in hurry. Preparing healthy breakfast actually takes very little time, as little as ten minutes a day.

Eggs are one of the most popular breakfast ingredients. Eggs contain high calories and protein that are essential to boost your energy for the day. Eggs are also very quick to cook and very easy to prepare. There are so many healthy recipes for eggs that you can find, or you can create your own.

When you buy eggs, you need to select the best eggs you can find. The shell should be clean and the eggs should not smell at all. After you get home, store your eggs in the refrigerator to keep them fresh. Do not keep your eggs too long in the refrigerator. Eat your eggs within a few days of purchase.

There are many ways to prepare eggs, sunny, scrambled, boiled, omelet, and more. Variations of the basic menu will make your breakfast healthier and more delicious. It is very easy to create your own eggs recipes based on basic easy recipes. You just need to add some ingredients to make your breakfast tastes more special.

The heat for cooking eggs should be medium. High heat will burn your eggs before it is thoroughly cooked and low heat will make your eggs cook longer. Eggs need to be cooked thoroughly to avoid contamination. If you like your egg yolks runny, you need to be sure you use the highest quality eggs as possible to avoid health issues.

If you are in a hurry, you can prepare scrambled eggs or sunny eggs. If you use non stick pan, you need very little oil or you do not need any oil at all. This will make your breakfast healthier. You can season the eggs with salt and pepper. You can eat your eggs with toast.

Omelet can be very simple or elaborate, depending on the recipe. Almost every country has their own variations of omelet. The best thing of cooking omelet is you can add your favorite ingredients such as mushrooms, cheese, meat, or even pasta. There are so many easy recipes for omelet that you can try. You can easily improvise on those recipes.

If you have health problems such as high cholesterol, you can still eat eggs for breakfast. However, you need to reduce or omit the egg yolks. Eat your breakfast with non fat milk, fruit juice, soy milk, or smoothie made with soy milk or non fat milk. Healthy breakfasts will make your more energized throughout the day. If you spare only a few minutes of your morning routine to make a healthy breakfast every day, you will feel your mood improved and your can work better.

Stay Healthy With My Tips on How to Prepare Easy Healthy Family Recipes

Preparing healthy recipes seems too tough and time consuming to most people. But with some advance planning and gathering most basic knowledge of nutrition, it is easy to create a week's valued of healthy meals. The important key to make quick and healthy meals for the family is planning.

Planning ahead of time a whole week of healthy recipe meals is the best way to produce dishes that you and your family loved, while saving cost and time commitment to a minimum. Below are some great tips you can utilize to prepare healthy delicious meals right away.

Healthy Cooking Recipe Tip #1:

Cooking large quantities of healthy food recipes and freezing the leftovers is a great way to save time. Making double and even triple batches of stews, casseroles, soups, and pasta, and freezing the leftovers for later use, can save up both your time and money.

When freezing leftovers, however, it is essential to mark the containers carefully, utilizing freezer tape and a permanent marker. Try to arrange the oldest foods near the top to avoid having to throw away expired items.

Healthy Cooking Recipe Tip #2:

Maintaining a well stocked pantry is as important as keeping a well stocked freezer. Stocking the pantry with a good supply of staple items like canned vegetables, canned fruits, soup stocks and the like will produce healthy cooking recipe planning much faster and smoother.

Stocking the pantry can save up your money as well as time. Grocery stores are always running sales, and these sales are a great time to stock up. Buying various cases of canned vegetables during sale offer, for instance can save lots of money and provide the basic ingredients for many nutritious, easy to set up meals.

Healthy Cooking Recipe Tip #3:

Make use of convenient electrical appliances such as microwaves and slow cookers will save you huge mount of time when preparing meals. There are a lot of easy and healthy food recipes that can be started in the morning and left to cook all day in a crock pot or slow cooker.

There are many microwavable healthy family meals you can prepare at home. Use single serving microwave safe containers so that each member of the family can eat on their own schedule.

Healthy Cooking Recipe Tip #4:

Encourage family member to get involved when making your weekly meal plan by compiling their comment and taking down everyone's favorite foods. It is still very important to eat healthy meals, by avoiding taking heavy meals during dinner. By getting your family members involved in the healthy family recipe preparation, you can help to increase their interest in healthy eating right away.

Recipe Nutrition Calculators For Healthy Cooking

There are advantages when it comes to cooking you own food. Not only do you save money but you also have a greater degree of control over what you put into your body. When you go out to the restaurant of your choice and you are given a choice between rare, medium or well-done for the beef steak you have hypothetically ordered, you're exposing yourself to a lot of delicacies. Anyone on a diet would realize eating packaged foods is not the easiest path to shedding off those extra pounds. However, cooking your own meals adds a huge number of variables into the nutritional content of the food. A recipe nutrition calculator can help you cook healthy and balanced meals without worrying about all of the different ingredients.

Intuitive and Comprehensive

Recipe and nutrition calculators have helped out cooks ever since its introduction on the Internet by offering one of the most comprehensive health intuitive programs. Regular updates are made to ensure that nutritional information is kept up to date on all of the ingredients. It is certainly a lot easier doing the math in your head, but a nutrition calculator is far more accurate.

To use a recipe nutrition calculator, simply select the ingredient that you want to use and the amount. Repeat the process with the rest of the ingredients and the total nutritional content of the meal will be displayed in seconds. It will cover a wide variety of nutritional properties such as vitamins, minerals, salt, sugar, fat, calories and so forth. Whilst many people are overly worried about the number of calories in a meal, most forget to take into account the rest of the nutritional properties. In this way, many low calories foods still are not as healthy if they contain high levels of certain ingredients which can raise cholesterol, blood pressure, and other health risks. A food nutrition counter can help you balance your meals without you having to be careful about the number of calories you eat.

For those who enjoy cooking, a recipe nutrition calculator is an absolute must. When over half of all American adults are overweight, vigilance is needed now more than ever about their weight and keeping healthy. By eating smart and combining a healthy diet with exercise, you can stay fit and feel great about yourself. You can, from time to time, be a little gluttonous with food, as long as you are smart with your food intake most of the time. Recipe nutrition calculators are vital to keeping healthy, and they are important to being responsible about your body.

Healthy Cooking With Steam Control Multi-Element Stainless Steel Cookware

Think about cooking healthy in this busy high stress world. Waterless grease less cooking preserves the vitamins and minerals of all of your foods and avoids the carcinogens from charring the meats.

A great example of using the Multi element surgical stainless steel cookware with steam control is the following recipe:

Heat pot on medium heat and then place chicken pieces in pan and brown on both sides. Extra oil in not needed. Very minor sticking may be present but no problem. When browned on both sides add whatever vegetables you desire, (potatoes, broccoli, squash, carrots or whatever). Just place them over the meat, put on the lid and close the steam valve. Turn heat to low and allow it to cook. Everything cooks evenly with the heat recirculating evenly throughout the entire pot. Allowing rapid cooking with all the nutrients preserved. Enjoy wonderful healthy fast cooking with Waterless cookware.

Waterless cooking

The steam control valve features on waterless cooking Cookware makes "waterless cooking" easy. You can cook Healthier in this cookware because it eliminates the need for grease or oil in cooking. To use the steam Control valve, start cooking on medium heat (never use high heat) then, when the valve begins To whistle, close the valve and turn down to low And finish cooking.

Multiple element construction Our premium cookware has 7, 9, or 11 element Construction. All are quality items and work pretty Much the same this refers to the fused heating surface Attached to the bottom of the stainless steel Cookware which has thin layers of different High conduction metals. This allows heat to spread rapidly and evenly across the entire cooking surface allowing the food to cook evenly.

Slow Cooker For Healthy Living

A slow cooker (also called a crock pot) is a time saver and a convenient cooking device. You can prepare a meal in the morning and when you arrive from work it is ready to be served. It can enhance the nutritional content of foods also. With slower cooking, more vitamins and minerals are retained in the food.

Meals cooked with the use of crock pots can be very delicious. The food flavors sink in deeply and gradually. The flavors of the herbs and stock are also well absorbed. Moist heat tenderizes the meat.

A properly working slow cooker and a strict adherence to recommended cooking procedures make meals cooked with slow cooker perfectly safe to be consumed. Slow cooking eliminates any bacteria.

Cheaper cuts of red meat or white meat are cooked better in crock pot or slow cooker plus it saves you some money. They have less fat content compared to expensive cuts that make them more suitable for slow cookers. It normally requires eight hours to cook most meat.

Place food from one half up to two thirds of the crock pot's capacity only. Slow cooker filled to its full capacity will not properly cook food. However, food will be cooked quite fast when the liquid and its level is lower than the usual.

Foods on the bottom will be more moist and will cook faster because of the simmering fluid. Cut too much fat from meat and take out the skin of meat from poultry. Long, slow cooking will melt fats and give the finished dish an unpleasant feel.

Remove the cover and shift to high setting during the last half hour of cooking time to thicken the juice and concentrate the flavors.

As tips to slow cooking, add seafood only in the final one hour of cooking time to avoid overcooking it, overcooked seafood has a gristly texture.

Ground meats should be pan-fried first before cooking it in slow cooker to get the best result. You can brown large cuts of meat before cooking it in the crock pot, although this step is not really needed, browning the meat can add color and further develop the flavor.

Vegetables easily cooked such as tomatoes, zucchini and mushrooms should be added on the last 45 minutes to avoid overcooking them.

Use just a small amount of Tabasco sauce and cayenne pepper and put them in the crock pot at the end of required cooking time to avoid a bitter taste. In general, spices should come in the last hour so as not to lose its tasty flavor if cooked together with other ingredients during the duration of cooking time.

Add dairy products at the final half hour of desired cooking time except when the recipe requires differently.

If you are planning to cook with a recipe not specifically made for the slow cooker, cut the liquid down by one third or one half, because liquid does not easily boil away from the crock pot.

Generally, slow cookers are safer to use for cooking because it works on lower temperatures, and the lids are always closed. This prevents accidents that may result to fires. There are also certain types of meat that are more conducive to slow cooking above other methods.

Your Film Guide to Healthy Relationships - Want a Recipe For Great Cooking and Loving?

Want real health care reform? Start cooking real food and making real love. That's a healthy love tip I've often told our online community. Now you have a film guide to reveal recipes for hearty meals and happy marriages. You'll be craving both as you experience the delicious film, Julie and Julia.

It's the story of two lost women who find their professional purpose through food and passionate fulfillment in marriage. This film celebrates the best in happy marriages with lasting love. It's inspired by true love stories of two couples.

The best known couple, based on Chef Julia Child and her diplomat husband, Paul Child, had enjoyed five decades of great cooking and loving in France and America until death parted them in their 90s. They are brought to life with endearing wit and charm by Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci.

The second couple is based on a young newlywed (Amy Adams) in New York who blogs her way through the preparation of 524 of Julia's French recipes in 365 days and through common hurdles of making an emotional home in a new marriage to a supportive husband.

These two love stories are interwoven into a graceful tapestry by the film's writer and director, Nora Ephron. She's reported to be enjoying a second marriage of 22 years, after suffering through a betrayal while she was pregnant by her first husband, the journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame.

Ms. Ephron has survived and thrived after that marriage melodrama, and there's no hint of it in her film portrait of these two marriages. She gives us an authentic portrayal of pleasures and passion in a mid-life marriage. A delightful example is when Julia and Paul Childs sneak home from cooking school and the American Embassy in Paris for a little lunch and some afternoon delight.

When Julia learns her newly-married sister is pregnant with her first baby in her 40s, we sense sadness that the Childs weren't able to have children in an era before infertility intervention.

When we learn that Julia was a 40 year old virgin when she married Paul, it tugs at your heart when she asks him, "What if you didn't fall in love with me?"

"But I did," Paul said tenderly. And then he showed his love in wonderful ways -- as they stood by each other, handled challenges and sparked chemistry as a couple. Not in a sappy, trite way. But with savvy joy that can be experienced in any mutually-supportive marriage. If you seek a role model, Julia and Paul can be your love guide.

What about the blogger and her husband?

Julie Powell's blogging adventure had connected her to online readers (including her mother) while she reported on the results of a preparing a Julia Child recipe each day.

At one point, Julie asked her readers if anyone's out there paying attention to her. Having blogged for a year, I've often wondered that myself. This is a tender nudge for you to start a dialogue and make a meaningful connection with people you're getting to know online.

After month's of Julie's blogging had stolen her focus and energy from her husband, she had to decide whether to change her priorities to save their relationship. It's an authentic love test that most couples face in an enduring relationship. The love lessons they learn from this experience will make you question how your choices and priorities affect your relationship.

Can you recall any recent Hollywood films that portray the emotional depth and enduring passion in a happy marriage?

I can't. So there's another reason I'm recommending that you go to the theater and savor this tasty treat. You'll also send Hollywood a message of support to keep making glorious, grownup love stories.

I hope you'll see this film as a love guide to spark up your relationship.

Healthy and Balanced Barbecue Chicken Mix Kabobs Recipe

This is another swell recipe for your barbecue's list.
As we know, meat make up of a large portion of food we grill during our barbecue.
However, in order for us to enjoy a healthy and balance meal, we need to consume vegetables.
Therefore, this chicken mix kabob is a combination of meat and veggie which give you the necessary nutrient for a healthy meal.

Ingredients

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serving Size: 4

- 4 strip of chicken fillets 150g

- 2 1/2 piece of hotdogs (optional)

- 1/4 small yellow onion

- 1/4 red capsicum

- 1/4 green capsicum

- 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce

- 1 1/4 teaspoons of sugar

- 2 teaspoons of dried margoram

- 1 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme

- 1/2 teaspoon of dried dill leaf

- 2 teaspoons of olive oil

- 8 bamboo sticks or skewers

- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

- 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper

Preparation

1. Cut the red capsicum, green capsicum into 1.5 inch pieces. Cut the yellow onion about 1/2 inches width. Place them into the mixing bowl. Add the 1 teaspoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme and 1/2 teaspoon of dill leaf tips and sprinkle some salt and black pepper into the bowl, and stir to coat well. Put in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour

2. Cut the chicken fillets about 1.5 inches pieces and place the chicken fillet into another mixing bowl (Not together with the vegetables). Add in 1 teaspoon of olive oil, 1 1/4 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of salt,1 teaspoon of dried thyme and 2 teaspoon of marjoram, stir to coat well. Put in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

3. Cut the hotdog into 3 equal pieces. Fill bamboo sticks /skewers with pieces that are uniform in size and leave a little space between pieces so everything gets equally and thoroughly cooked. Don't overload bamboo stickers /skewers with food packed tightly together.
You are free to arrange the pieces in any order.
(My Kabob combination: Onion, Chicken fillet, red capsicum, chicken fillet, green capsicum, hotdog)
Put the Kabobs in the refrigerator until you are ready to grill.

Outdoor Grilling Method

1. Let then heat to stable first before setting the kabobs on the grill.

2. Turn the kabobs frequently as they're grilling. You have to grill for about 12 - 15 minutes (depending on the actual temperature) before serving

Oven Grilling Method

1. Set the oven mode to toast and preheat the oven to 180C before setting the Kabob on the grills.

2. Cook for 10 - 15 minutes before serving.

This article is provided by I love that Recipe.

Healthy & Delicious Chili Chicken Recipe Cook at Home

We live in a very busy world. It is often hard to keep up with the laundry and daily house chores after working all day, let alone try to prepare a good meal for your family that is not just quick, but nutritious for them as well. Homemade cooking can allow you to not only prepare nutritious meals, but they will think you have been cooking all day. After working all day, it is very tempting to just stop and buy take out food, but this isn't really very good for your family to eat on a regular basis.

We are in a world that is full of convenience. Homemade cooking can be very simple all you have to do is be a little creative. Cooking could be fun if it's not a complicated recipe.

Home Made Chili Chicken Dinner

Family dinner doesn't get any better than this convenient yummy-in-the-tummy chicken dish. After all, self-cooking food assured with top class of "quality control" and less expensive!

Preparation Time: 25 minutes;
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Servings: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients-

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 large chicken thighs with skin and bones (about 2 pounds)
Ground cloves
1 1/2 cups diced seeded red bell peppers
1 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pitted imported green olives
4 small bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon hot chili paste or 1 small Serrano Chile, chopped
1 1/2 cups jasmine rice or long-grain white rice (9 to 10 ounces), rinsed, drained
2 to 2 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth

Method-

Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium-high flame. Sprinkle chicken generously with salt and pepper, then lightly with ground cloves. Add chicken to skillet and sauté until brown, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate.

Pour off all but 4 tablespoons fat from skillet. Add bell peppers, onion, raisins, olives, bay leaves, garlic, and chili paste to skillet. Saute until vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add rice; stir 1 minute. Press chicken into rice. Add 2 cups broth; bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender, adding more broth if dry, about 20 minutes.

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes With Easy Preparation

The other day I was looking through my grocer's weekly sale flyer and I found myself thinking, "The easier the preparation, the worse it is for you." Think about fast food. No preparation, but completely unhealthy.

I continued my thoughts through meal preparations - frozen TV dinners, frozen pizza, frozen "meal in a bag", boxed dinners, the list goes on and on. We are so concerned with doing things quickly we are hindering our health by jamming our bodies full of preservatives and things with names too long to state and too difficult to pronounce.

I pictured my grocery store, which wasn't difficult since I'm usually there at least twice a week. I love my grocer's produce section, seeing all the fresh fruits and vegetables; I usually spend most of my time there. However, thinking of all the isles that follow, my thoughts were once again confirmed. Packaged food after packaged food - even in the organic isle! I know that cooking with natural ingredients is the best way to go, but how are we to do it if we're bombarded with packaged, boxed, preserved food?

Thinking about my own cooking, I know that I use more "pre-packaged" items than I probably should. For convenience sake, I often used frozen vegetables and canned tomatoes. I feed my kids boxed macaroni and cheese. However, they don't eat frozen dinners, ready-made frozen chicken, and we never eat at fast food restaurants.

These thoughts drove me to research my own recipes; were there a handful of crock pot recipes with extremely easy preparation that are healthy? I did find a bunch, and although the recipes with canned soups tend to be higher in sodium, I believe I found a nice balance between easy preparation and health. Plus, every recipe on the list has 10 ingredients or less. You can view these recipes at http://www.natalies-recipes.com/website/easy-healthy-recipes.aspx.

When it comes right down to it, we want to be healthy and feed our families healthy meals. However, our busy lives often take over and prevent us from doing so. I hope that I have offered you some options to avoid the frozen dinners and fast food restaurants and create healthy meals with ease.

Healthy Cooking Ideas That Will Delight Your Family

Changing the way we cook our food can have a dramatic effect on our health. If we make wiser choices with our food and the way we cook it, we can significantly reduce our risk of contracting cancer and heart disease.

Here are some top tips for healthy cooking:-

1. Invest in non stick pans - With quality non-stick pans you can get away with not using oil at all or by using a low fat cooking spray. You can also 'fry' some foods in a little water to prevent them sticking. If you have to use oil, use olive oil and pat food with kitchen roll after cooking to remove excess oil.

2. Look through your recipes collection for diet recipes and low fat recipes. Cook them in batches and freeze so that you always have a healthy meal option available.

3. Steam or stir-fry vegetables - Cooking them using these methods will help the vegetables to retain their nutrients, colour and taste. Look for healthy recipes like Chinese stir-fries and invest in a wok and steamer. You can buy Chinese bamboo steamers, which just sit on top of a pan of boiling water, or you can buy electric steamers. You can get a good electric steamer for less than the cost of one meal out and the ease of use is a real time saver.

4. Use olive oil - Replace other oils or fats with olive oil which is a mono-unsaturated oil and actually helps to reduce cholesterol. Make your own salad dressings from olive oil and balsamic vinegar to give your salad a Mediterranean taste and this will be lower in fat than commercial salad dressings. Search online for free recipes using olive oil. Some muffin recipes use olive oil or corn oil instead of solid fats.

5. Use fat free milk in cooking and baking to cut the fat content of your healthy recipes.

6. Replace fat in baking - Look for low fat recipes for cakes and biscuits or replace half the fat in recipes with pureed prunes, yogurt or mashed banana. Search for diet recipes for sweet treats.

7. Use fat-free yogurt or creme fraiche instead of using cream for pouring on dessert recipes or fruit.

8. Add more vegetables to casseroles and soups and use fresh or frozen vegetables rather than canned.

9. Don't add salt to food - Season food with herbs, spices, garlic and lemon juice instead of salt.

10. Trim visible fat off meat and use lean meat in your low fat recipes. Cut down on how much red meat you consume and replace with fish and chicken or turkey.

Remember, cooking and eating healthy food is not hard work and definitely not expensive. If you play your cards right you can change you whole family's diet and they won't suspect a thing.
That isn't to say that they won't notice anything though, because they will - they may well notice that they are losing weight, feeling better and getting fewer minor illnesses.

If that isn't reason enough to try out a few of these tips, I don't know what is!

Make Any Cupcake Recipe Better With These 5 Healthy Cooking Tips

According to the media, millions of Americans are overweight. There are many diet plans aimed at helping people lose weight, but they all focus on an important fact--to lose weight, a person needs to decrease calories consumed. Staying on a diet plan can be a struggle, but the end result is worth the struggle. There are many ways to stay motivated while dieting, including not depriving yourself of your favorite treats. Cupcakes are a sweet indulgence that can be enjoyed while sticking to a healthy diet. Try these five tips for healthier cupcakes that will fit within your diet guidelines.

To enjoy cupcakes on a diet, try substituting healthier ingredients to cut calories and increase nutrients. For instance, use applesauce instead of oil, sugar substitute instead of regular sugar, and whole wheat flour instead of white flour. These changes will give your cupcakes a nutrient boost while cutting calories. If you are hesitant of these changes, try starting out by only substituting half of an ingredient until you get used to the flavor change.

Think outside of the flavor box and bake up a lighter batter. Try angel food cupcakes instead of chocolate. You can even flavor these cupcakes with cocoa to create a chocolate cupcake with a fraction of the calories a traditional chocolate cupcake would have. Other healthy flavor options include carrot cake, banana, zucchini, or raspberry. These flavors are delicious and allow you to indulge your sweet tooth while staying within your allotted calories.

If you just want a traditional cupcake, try miniature cupcakes. These can provide you with the taste and texture of cupcakes, but with fewer calories due to the small size. Miniature cupcakes can be packed in lunches, providing portion control while allowing you to have your sweet treat.

Frosting is a major source of calories on cupcakes. An easy way to lighten up cupcakes is to eliminate frosting. For vanilla or angel food cupcakes, try sprinkling the top of the cupcake with a dusting of cocoa powder. This will add a hint of chocolate without adding many calories. Another healthy frosting alternative is a homemade cream cheese frosting. By creating this frosting from scratch you are able to use reduced-fat cream cheese, thereby reducing calories. This cream cheese frosting can be flavored with canned pineapple tidbits, crushed strawberries, or whichever fruit that you prefer.

The last tip for creating healthier cupcakes is adding nutrients. While mixing cupcake batter, try folding in shredded zucchini or mashed bananas. This creates moist cupcakes with added vitamins. Adding a few tablespoons of flaxseed or protein powder will not noticeably change the flavor of cupcakes, but will increase the nutrients. Adding healthy nutrients to cupcakes will not decrease the calorie count, but will make your cupcakes a healthier alternative for a sweet treat.

Eating healthy foods does not have to mean depriving yourself. It is easy to make changes to a recipe in order to have the recipe fit your dieting needs. Cupcakes are a fun way to celebrate special occasions and can be a part of a healthy diet, if they are modified to your dietary needs and eaten in moderation.

Cooking With Xylitol - The Healthy All Natural Sweetener

Whether you're a dieter or a diabetic, your days of waving away the dessert tray are over, thanks to Xylitol, a natural sweetener that can be used as a stand-in for sugar in virtually any recipe that satisfies your sweet tooth. 

In 2003, nutritionist Karen Edwards wrote an entire Xylitol cookbook -- "Sweeten Your Life the Xylitol Way" -- and three years later unveiled an expanded version containing more than 100 recipes for cookies, cakes, pies, even ice cream and condensed milk, adapted to suit the tastes of those who crave carbohydrates but have concerns about sugar content.

Xylitol, a sweetener that occurs naturally in plants and in small amounts in human tissue, is sold in granulated form and has the sweetness of sugar, but contains roughly 40 percent fewer calories and produces neither the insulin spike of sugar nor the aftertaste of artificial sweeteners like Splenda and aspartame.

Because Xylitol and sugar react similarly to heat, Xylitol can substitute for sugar in cooking and baking on essentially a one-to-one ratio. But experts recommend starting with a smaller amount of Xylitol and adjusting to taste. In recipes calling for white flour, a good rule of thumb is to use a half-cup of Xylitol where you would normally use one cup of sugar and gradually add more until the batter is sweet enough.

Yeast bread is the exception to the rule, however. The same chemical compound that inhibits the production of harmful microorganisms in the mouth has the same effect on the microorganisms in yeast, making Xylitol unsuitable for use in baking yeast-based breads.