A Barbecue Sauce Recipe You Can Use in Countless Scrumptious Versions

There are countless ready-to-use barbecue sauces in the market today and if you are fond of barbecue, you have probably tried several. You may even have found a favorite brand to use regularly and figured out a way to enhance its flavor by adding lemon or garlic or a combination of other ingredients. There may be times, however, when you wish you could have your old favorite and still serve something new all in one occasion. If so, here’s a barbecue sauce recipe that might work for you and help turn your regular barbecue into a mini barbecue buffet!

The Basic Sauce

In a blender, puree a small onion, half a head of garlic and 1/3 cup of brown sugar. Pour into a bowl and add 1 cup of ketchup, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, and 1/3 cup of lemon juice. Mix well. This is your basic sauce and you can use it as is. You can also divide this into two or three portions and flavor each one differently.

The Asian Variation

To your basic mix, add 1 tablespoon minced ginger, 2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce, 1/4 cup rice wine, and 3 tablespoons of sesame oil. Marinate the meats you choose to serve with this Asian flavor for at least one hour, barbecue, and serve.

A Hint of Sate

To your basic mix, add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of peanut butter, 1 teaspoon tamarind sauce, 1 tablespoon sate sauce and the juice of one lime. It is important to slice your meat a little on the fine side because the peanut butter makes this recipe for barbecue sauce burn rather quickly. The tamarind sauce and the sate sauce are both available in Asian groceries in the US. Be sure to refrigerate once you have opened their bottles.

A Breath of Creole

To your basic mix, add your Creole seasoning. You can make this yourself by mixing 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon paprika, 2 teaspoons dried oregano, 2 teaspoons dried thyme, and 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper. If you intend to serve a Creole variation for your barbecue, you won’t go wrong by throwing in some sausages along with your beef.

A Trace of Mexican

Finely chop three tablespoons of cilantro. Throw this into your basic mix and add 1/2 to one teaspoon cumin, a teaspoon of white pepper, and half a teaspoon of cinnamon. You may also want to put a dash or more of taco flavoring.

A Touch of Thai

You can convert your basic sauce so that it has a touch of Thai in it by adding the juice of one lime, a heaping tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of fish sauce and two tablespoons of finely chopped ginger. Many Thai dishes are traditionally hot but you can make your Thai version as hot or as mild as you want. If available, one crushed lemongrass stem will go a long way towards bringing a taste of Siam to your sauce.

Adapting the Sauce to Your Own Taste

Some kitchens develop a fine reputation for their distinctive barbecue sauce. You can become known for having barbecues that provide a mélange of exotic flavors side by side with the fondly familiar tastes that come off the grill. If you decide to use this barbecue sauce recipe, try the basic version on a small amount of meat before using it for a big party. Then, as today’s foodies would put it, tweak it so that it suits your palate. Add pepper or nutmeg or balsamic vinegar- whatever strikes your fancy after you have tested it on your grill. Be the judge of how hot, how sweet or how salty you want your sauce to be. Reduce or add to the ingredients listed, be adventurous enough to make this sauce your very own then grill away and have fun!

Smoothies Recipes for Busy People

No matter how busy they are, people still need to eat. For those who simply have no time to whip up a meal, smoothies present a delicious, convenient solution. If you like smoothies, half of your problems are over because you can easily create a life support smoothie pantry and stock up on what you need for a quick, scrumptious fix.

Getting your Smoothie Act Together

If you want to have a supply of smoothies ready throughout the week, you can begin by gathering all your ingredients and preparing them in serving size packs. For every week that you plan to resort to smoothies, choose the fruits that you want to feast on. You can take two or three of your favorite fruits, wash and cut them up then put them in the freezer in individual bags. Unless the skins of the fruits you choose have too strong a flavor, refrain from peeling them since this adds fiber to your diet.

Bananas make a good stabilizer for your smoothies. Make sure you have enough for the shakes you want to make in the next week or two. To do this, take half a dozen really ripe bananas. Cut them up and freeze them, making sure the slices are not all stuck up and hard to separate when you want to put some in the blender.

You can also prepare your favorite vegetables to make up part of your smoothies recipes. Peel and cut them up before throwing them into the blender if you want them fresh. Cut out any discolored parts in the vegetables before putting them into the blender and when these are very fibrous, slice them finely to avoid getting your blades stuck.

Make sure you have the liquids you want to use for your smoothies. This means choosing your juices and the other products you will use as the base for your smoothies. This includes products such as soymilk, nonfat milk, or almond milk. Of course, you can always use water or crushed ice – these work just as well.

Apart from your fruits, vegetables and liquid base, you may want to have protein powder, tofu, yogurt, or some instant breakfast food to enhance your smoothies recipes. You may also want to have sweeteners ready: brown sugar, artificial sweeteners, honey, or molasses. As a final touch, keep nuts, flax seeds, or wheat germ ready for fiber.

Simple Recipes to Try

Melon Delight

• 1 cup banana slices
• 2 cups cantaloupe (watermelon can be used as substitutes)
• 1/2 cup almond milk (nonfat or reduced fat milk will do as well)
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 tablespoon protein powder
• 1/2 cup crushed ice

Strawberry Dream

• 1 cup strawberries
• 1 cup banana slices
• 1/2 cup yogurt (fat free vanilla yogurt works very well too)
• 1 to 2 teaspoons light colored honey
• 1/4 cup frozen orange juice
• 1/2 tablespoon protein powder
• 1/2 cup crushed ice

Peanut Butter Magic

• 1 cup banana slices
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon molasses
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 cup crushed ice

Honeydew Queen

• 1 cup honeydew
• 1/2 cup boiled spinach or broccoli
• 1 cup banana slices
• 1/2 cup fat free vanilla yogurt 
• 1 to 2 teaspoons light colored honey
• 1/4 cup frozen orange juice
• 1/2 tablespoon protein powder 
• 1/2 cup crushed ice

All of these concoctions just need to be thrown into a blender and pureed for a few minutes before serving. Smoothies’ recipes can be real time savers for busy people but more than that, they offer a pleasant alternative for those who do not have time to cook but still want to satisfy their palate.

Simple Sushi Recipes for the Brave New Cook

If you love sushi and are brave enough to try and make it in your kitchen even if you never have before, take heart. There is a whole new adventure waiting for you and on top of that, there are also some simple sushi recipes that you can try cutting your teeth on.

For Your First Trial

You can make futomaki with kani, hosomaki with tuna and California roll. With these three kinds of sushi and some nice garnish, your resulting tray of goodies will not look as if they were done by an amateur. For these sushi recipes, you will need:

• sharp 4-inch knife
• 1 bamboo sushi mat
• Plastic wrap
• 8 pieces nori sheets
• 6 cups of cooked sushi rice
• 2/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 large tuna fillet sliced into long cylinders
• 2 large dried mushrooms, soaked till soft then cooked in water with a little sugar and salt the sliced very fine
• 4 sticks of kani
• ¼ c. Japanese mayonnaise
• 2 eggs, scrambled
• Avocado, sliced into 8 strips
• 1 small radish, julienned lengthwise
• 1 cucumber, cut into long strips
• Pickled ginger
• Soy Sauce
• Wasabi
• Toasted sesame seeds

Preparing the Rice

The first step is to prepare the rice which is a basic ingredient in all sushi recipes. Use 4 cups of very well washed short grain rice and cook it with a little less than 5 cups of water. Let the rice sit in its own steam for 15 minutes after it has been cooked. Meanwhile, prepare your flavored vinegar by mixing the vinegar, salt and sugar and simmering over low heat just until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Transfer the rice to a glass bowl, sprinkle the flavored vinegar on the rice and mix everything, using a firm but gentle cut-and-fold motion. Cover the rice with plastic wrap and proceed with the rest of the sushi making.

Starting with Futomaki

Futomaki is a good beginning for the new sushi cook because it is larger than hosomaki and easier to handle. Take out your sushi mat and cover it all around with plastic wrap. Lay one whole sheet of nori on it, shiny side down. Take about 2/3 cup of sushi rice and spread this on the sheet, patting the rice so that it sticks to the nori but not mashing the kernels. Place half a sheet of nori over this and press against the rice. Arrange a row of tamago, a row of crabmeat, a row of cucumber strips and a row of dried mushroom. Using the makisu or bamboo mat, fold over the nori and begin rolling, making sure the nori does not get stuck under the roll. Using an inward pulling motion with your fingers, compress the roll before removing the mat. To slice, cut off any extra material on the end of the roll then cut the roll into two. Put the two resulting cylinders together and cut into a total of 8 pieces.

Doing Your Hosomaki and California Roll

Roll out the nori as before, spread and gently press rice Lay a row of tuna on the rice, add a row of cucumber then roll. Using a sharp knife, cut off extra filling on the ends and slice the roll into 6 to 8 piece.

To make your California roll, lay out the nori and spread rice over it, pressing the grains firmly to make sure they stick to the nori. The, turn the nori and rice mixture so that the rice is at the bottom and the nori is facing you. Pile a row of avocado followed by a row of roughly minced kani. Pile mayonnaise in one even row over these ingredients then fold over the rice mixture carefully, taking care that you come up with as solid a cylinder as possible. Dredge the

Sushi roll with sesame seeds then slice your California roll into 6 to 8 pieces.

Arrange your sushi rolls artistically, garnishing with julienned radish, cucumber and sweet pickled ginger. If you have some Japanese style plates, your decorated sushi will look as good as they will taste with no one suspecting that you made sushi for the first time.

Starting the Day Right with Breakfast Smoothies

Everyone has heard the saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. While this traditional view may be true, the fact remains that very few people today have time for anything more than a hurriedly put nourishment of sorts. For most working adults, breakfast will consist of a piece of toast and coffee while for children, this is often simply a bowl of cereal into which some milk has been splashed.

Hardly anyone now has time for the ham and egg routine that used to mark the start of day except perhaps during weekends. At any rate, nutritionists no longer hold the ham or bacon and egg breakfast as ideal because of its cholesterol content. In the interest of time, breakfast smoothies can now make a timely entrance. In addition, they are so flexible they can accommodate the inclusion of vitamins, minerals and proteins.

What Breakfast Smoothies Should Contain

When presented as breakfast smoothies are not exempt from the nutritional requirements that regular meals must meet. Breakfast must provide at least one quarter of the daily calorie requirement and the daily recommended intake of protein, calcium, iron vitamins A, B, C. Smoothies, when served as breakfast, should therefore include some form of whole grains, low-fat protein, low-fat dairy or dairy products, fruits and vegetables.

Smoothie Ingredients for Nutrition

Whole grains that can be incorporated into smoothies need not be blended or pureed along with the other ingredients. They can in fact be sprinkled into the mixture after everything has been poured into a glass. If these grains are crunchy, they will add an interesting texture to the smoothie.

Examples of protein sources that can easily be included as smoothie ingredients are peanut butter, silken tofu and nuts. Among the readily available nuts, the best protein sources are almonds, pistachios, sunflower seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts and pine nuts, in that order. Low-fat dairy products that provide protein would include skim milk, low-fat yogurt and low-fat cheese such as cottage cheese.

Nutritional Requirements to Meet

Children are supposed to eat two to four servings or one to two cups of fruit and three to five servings or two to three cups of vegetables daily. Providing a fourth of all these is actually not a difficult challenge when you use smoothies as a tasty strategy.

The daily intake requirement for grains is six to eleven servings which would translate to around six to eleven pieces of bread or half a cup to five or six cups of cooked rice. Bananas used to hold smoothies together are an adequate substitute source of carbohydrates with the added benefit of providing potassium. To satisfy calcium and vitamin D requirements, children need to eat at least two servings of low-fat milk, yogurt or cheese. Some examples of low-fat cheese would be cheddar, mozzarella, cottage cheese or Colby.

Basic Recipes for Breakfast Smoothies

If they are to take the place of breakfast, the basic recipe for early morning smoothies must include whole grains, low-fat protein, low-fat dairy or dairy products and fruits or vegetables. You can substitute different ingredients for each category of food but all four must be present in some form.

Golden Breakfast Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup peach or mango tidbits
• 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt or silken tofu
• 1/2 cup sliced banana
• 1 cup low-fat milk
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup cereal or toasted almond slivers

Chocolate Breakfast Smoothie

• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup silken tofu or vanilla flavored low fat yogurt
• 1/2 cup soymilk
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 1/3 cup crushed ice
• 1/3 cup cereal or toasted nuts

Strawberry Breakfast Smoothie

• 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries (rinsed and hulled)
• 1 cup low-fat or non-fat yogurt
• 1/2 frozen cranberry juice
• 1/3 cup crushed ice
• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
• 1/3 cup cheerios or any other cereal

Procedure:

Cut up and prepare fruits and other ingredients the night before. Throw into a blender and puree all ingredients except the nuts or cereal. Pour into glass and sprinkle with nuts or cereal of choice.

Twisted Vegetarian Comfort Soups Made More Comfortable

Eating can be a dreadful bore without any creativity infused into cooking especially when one has to become a forced vegetarian. It can mean going back to the basics like dwelling on meals like soups, steamed and boiled vegetables. Soup, a diet basic, is among the first consideration when going on a diet or becoming a vegetarian for health reasons because it means oil-less cooking. It does not need to be a lackluster experience if one goes back to some traditional recipes with some creative twists added to it. Take consolation with some vegetarian comfort soups with a twist and you will not only be properly nourished; you will also be lifting the experience to new gastronomic heights.

Becoming a vegetarian is sometimes a forced solution to meat eaters because one's health is already seriously compromised. Eating vegetables, fruits and their by-products is regarded as a healthy option that can reverse certain medical conditions. The idea is frequently scoffed for the connotation it carries: it is boring. What if your health depends on it? Then there is no choice. The choice is in choosing the way these veggies and fruits are cooked or prepared.

Mining Creative Options for a Soup

With such an option, start scrambling for recipes and styles of cooking that can make a whole lot of difference in your eating experience. The key to sticking to a vegetarian diet lies in skirting boring and similar dishes and ingredients.

Varying recipes? There is a whole let out there ripe for your picking. The Internet is a world of resources that were and are still continuously being born every day. The interactive exchanges in forums and social media are revealing amazing solutions that work having been tried by others. You only need to visit these pages and sites to get wind of some creative ways of improving your menu of vegetarian dishes and vegetarian comfort soups.

Discovering New Ways to Perk your Mom's Recipes

There is no doubt that mom's cooking is your favorite. When you are down and out on certain days, the aroma of your mom's cooking can surely renew your zest like mom is not so far away. That is comfort; it is priceless. But, if you are into this new lifestyle of being a vegetarian, even such loved recipes can wear you down. There is a trick: invigorate these recipes with just a hint of some additional ingredients to give it a whole new character.

Why not borrow some ideas from the Chinese? Chinese cuisine is far from boring with its horde of flavorful spices, sauces and style of cooking with Mandarin, Cantonese, Sichuan, Shandong, Macao, Jiangsu and Guangdong influences. Using sauces like hoisin, sweet bean sauce, and soy sauce can perk the flavor of your soup. Stir up the appetite by stir-frying your veggies in some big fire with the flame licking the food giving it a different character before adding the liquid and seasonings. Braising your vegetables first with Chinese spices and ingredients like tofu, bean curd and sauces can infuse your veggies with tremendous essence.

If you are among the ovo-lacto vegetarian, you can also enjoy using dairy products and eggs in your soup. Creaming or blending your vegetables like potatoes, carrots, beans, cabbage, or squash and adding some celery and cream on it makes hearty soups that you can eat any time of the day. If you are tired of these, why not combine vegetables for a totally new experience.

Be positive. In the face of a change in diet, and perhaps a lifestyle, you can gain a more vigorous health. Becoming a vegetarian does not mean being embroiled in some boring and lifeless meal. You don't live to eat, but making eating a "little feast" each time can give your life a new dimension. Cooking with a little creative twist on your mom's vegetarian comfort soups can be a good start.

How to Take Your Pick of Gourmet High End Chocolates

While today the chocolate market boasts of quite a few high end chocolate giants, there are other smaller establishments that offer their own epicurean treats for chocolate addicts. Perhaps one of the reasons why these stores are not as well known is because the volume of their production is not in the same scale as the large corporations that are well-known today. But, possibly this could also mean their chocolates are individually and more painstakingly prepared. The only way to find out would be to try them while at the same time applying some judgment on how to pick and rate gourmet high end chocolates.

Basic Tenets in Choosing Gourmet High End Chocolates

1. Expect your chocolate to cost you. Gourmet chocolate is expensive to produce, involving complex importation procedures and selection processes, not to mention expensive ingredients and meticulous cooking procedures. Be ready to pay a lot but do exercise wisdom and survey prices.

2. Read reviews and articles on chocolatiers and their products so you can narrow your choices somewhat and focus on the delicacies you think you will like. There is such a wide array of chocolates to choose from you could go crazy going through all of them. So, do ask yourself if you want dark chocolate or milk chocolate or white chocolate. Decide if you want to nibble on crème, nuts, fruit or caramel.

3. Pay attention to the ratings of specific products; all chocolate houses have their specialties and their so-so merchandise.

4. Look at the labels or product descriptions. Gourmet chocolates rarely, if ever, come packaged with this type of labeling but there is nothing to stop you from finding out whether preservatives, vegetable oil or soy have been used in the tidbit you are about to pop into your mouth. In general, you should look for high cocoa content, the presence of cocoa butter and an indication that genuine extracts, not imitation flavoring, have been in your candy.

5. Check the appearance of the chocolate. This should appear smooth and satiny, free from light streaks, powdery edges and traces of chocolate grit. Watch out for dots, cracks or any sign of cloudiness. These things do not necessarily affect flavor but if you are talking about gourmet chocolate which you will presumably be buying at gourmet prices then you are entitled to the best.

6. Smell the chocolate. If it smells overpoweringly strong and you can detect a trace of chemicals or too much flavoring, what you are holding is not gourmet chocolate. The best chocolate will have a rich but delicate scent.

7. Taste the confection. Bite off a small piece and let it lie against the roof of your mouth at the tip of your tongue. The piece should be smooth and should dissolve in a few seconds, releasing its unique flavor. Anything that is too sweet or too bitter or too fruity falls short of being gourmet chocolate. What you want is the subtle but unmistakable blending of flavors with chocolate retaining its identity.

8. If you are interested in how your chocolate was made, find out it is Belgian, Italian and French. These actually refer to a specific process used in creating the confection. Swiss chocolate is processed differently, using condensed milk as an ingredient.

9. Go to the shops and try two or three free samples. Beyond that, your taste buds could become desensitized so make up your mind before reaching saturation point.

10. Lastly, remember that picking gourmet chocolate should be an enjoyable process. Savor each piece that comes your way. Take your time; remember that you can't have too much of a good thing if you want to keep it a good thing. Besides, when it comes to enjoying gourmet high end chocolates, tomorrow is another day.