Archive for October, 2008

Lean Ground Beef is a Healthy Choice for Easy Family Recipes

Thursday, October 30th, 2008
Sherry Frewerd asked:


As far as value and family friendliness are concerned, you can’t beat ground beef at dinner time. Most Americans have grown up eating ground beef, or hamburger as it’s also referred to. In fact, what summer would be complete without a juicy hamburger cooked on the back yard grill?

Although health consciousness, along with industry and fast food beef scares in recent years have caused many folks to shy away from consuming ground beef, there are ways to prepare ground beef that are both safe and good for you too.

Lean ground beef is low in fat and high in protein, iron and B12, so there are healthy reasons to consider cooking with ground beef again. Choose the 93% lean ground beef in your grocery store and your recipes will be just as healthy for your family as any other lean beef dish. Not to mention the fact that ground beef is affordable and can be stretched to feed more people. Another ground beef tip that will help reduce fat if you choose to buy the less lean variety is to drain the fat and then rinse away any remaining grease or fat after cooking. As for cooking safety, ground beef should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.

Here is a quick and easy family-friendly recipe starring lean ground beef.

Easy Taco Hash Brown Supper

1 lb lean ground beef

½ cup onion, chopped

½ tsp garlic, minced

1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 tsp chili powder

¾ tsp salt

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp vegetable oil

4 ½ cups frozen hash browns, thawed (approx. ½ of a 26 oz package)

4 tomato slices

1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded

Brown the lean ground beef with the onions and garlic and then drain well. Stir in the tomato sauce, chili powder and ½ tsp salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Mix the butter and oil in a non stick oven proof skillet or pan and heat until bubbly. Press the hash browns into skillet and cook for five minutes. Preheat your broiler. Add the ground beef mixture over the hash browns and top with tomato slices and cheese. Broil for a couple of minutes.

This makes an easy and delicious weekday dinner that even picky eaters will love. Add a nice green salad and you have a healthy lean ground beef meal.



Brandon

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Easy Dinner Ideas for the Whole Family

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Jude Wright asked:


Providing your family with easy dinner ideas each night is never easy. They need to include foods which the family loves an also provide the right nutrition for health. They need to be made quickly especially on the nights you work late. It must include healthy options and, above all else, taste good. The recipes listed here will give you what you are looking for in easy dinner ideas the entire family will love.

The Easy dinner ideas listed here would not be served art a gourmet restaurant but, they will give you and your family a nutritious option each night. They are simple to prepare for and do not require many ingredients. You will also not need to take much time to plan for it. You might even look forward to coming home each night just so you can prepare them.

The first of the easy dinner ideas is an old classic, barbecue chicken. It will take less than an hour to make and can feed a large family cheaply. The trick to cooking barbecue chicken is to make sure the outside does not burn while the inside is cooking through. To make sure this is accomplished, put the barbecue coating on after the chicken is cooked thoroughly and let it heat until warm.

To prepare this, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. While you are waiting for the oven to heat, take out a baking dish and add about a teaspoon of oil. You can use olive oil for a healthier option. Add your chicken pieces to the pan and coat with salt and pepper. Put the chicken in the heated oven and cook until white inside and heated to 180 degrees by meat thermometer. Mix one 16 ounce can of orange soda and 16 ounces of barbecue sauce together and coat chicken. Put back into the oven for about ten to fifteen minutes. Remove and enjoy. Add a Side salad and a baked potato or potato salad made with low fat mayonnaise and you have one of the most perfect easy dinner ideas.

One of the kids favorites as well as good eating for adults is tater tot casserole. It is super simple to create and only takes less than an hour from start to finish. It is great because it only requires the use of two pans. A pound or two of ground met such as beef, turkey, chicken, or pork needs to be cooked and browned. While this is cooking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take out a large baking dish and begin to cover the bottom with frozen tater tots. Drain the cooked ground meat and begin to add a layer over the tater tots.

If you like onions, you can also cut these and layer them on top of the meat. Add a layer of shredded cheese of your choice. Cover all this with cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup. Continue layering the ingredients until you reach the top. Add a final layer of cheese and cover with foil. Put into the oven until the casserole is heated through. Take off the foil and let sit in the oven for a minute to make it brown. Serve each person and enjoy. It goes great with a fresh salad and a nice large glass of milk.



Tom

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Recipes for Acid Reflux

Monday, October 20th, 2008
Ash Tan asked:


Acid reflux is an unpleasant experience and can be very disturbing. One of the best cures one can take to get relief from acid reflux is by eating healthily. Eating healthy is easy as there are many recipes for acid reflux that are available on the internet and books.

 

Whether you are recovering from acid reflux or is finding a list of recipes to help you eat better to prevent acid reflux, we have a list of recipes for acid reflux to give you some ideas to start on. The recipes for acid reflux come in different categories to cater for all your basic and important meals of the day. The recipes for acid reflux ranges from breakfast, lunch, tea, snacks, dinner, supper and even desserts.

 

Now, if that got you think twice about how boring recipes for acid reflux are, this list will change your mind and you will not look at recipes for acid reflux the same way as before. For breakfast, there are a vast array of recipes for acid reflux to choose from. You can have low-fat yoghurts, pancakes, non-citrusy or low acid fruits like bananas and berries, nuts and wholemeal bread.

 

For lunch, recipes for acid reflux consists of salads, fruits, tofu, non spicy soups, and pastas. Recipes for acid reflux for lunch meals can be almost anything as long as it doesn’t irritates the stomach making it to overwork or having food that is hard to digest like fatty meats.

 

For dinner, you can have roast chicken, stir fry vegetables, cauliflower, broccoli and mash potatoes. The key of all recipes for acid reflux is that all of it is not spicy, not high in fats, not fried and not acidic. Those are the foods that causes acid to increase in the stomach and weaken the LES muscles of the esophagus.

 

Lastly, some mental notes to make to healthy eating is by not skipping meals, eating frequently small portions of food, and never stay hungry. Avoid caffeine, alcohol and cigarettes. With these thumb rules, you can lead a healthier lifestyle and feel a whole lot better.



Leroy

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Planning Menus of Easy Dinner Recipes

Monday, October 20th, 2008
Daniel Jowssey asked:


Imagine it, the family is gathered around the table, eyes shining, anticipating the amazing meal you are bringing to the table. Screech. Okay, at my house, we arrive at dinnertime just when the household is approaching meltdown.

Dinner Recipes:

Cooking can be fun if creativity is involved in it. Everyone wants to try new recipes which are great in taste and less time consuming. Some people are very conscious about their health and try some low crab recipes befitting to their daily diet whereas some very busy people want quick dinner recipes or crock pot recipes which can be done within minutes without compromising for the taste. In today’s busy world where people have to give the best shot in the office hardly find time to spend on cooking. Both parents in the family have to work and meet the needs and demand of their children as well as to cope up with the price rise.

For such people quick dinner recipes are of great help. You can take the help of internet and search online the recipes which require less time. There are many website full of new recipes for you to try and enjoy. These websites will help with new ideas and techniques which can be used effectively for making dinner quickly. It is the advantage of some site that the recipes they are offering are able to provide without any charge. They tell you the time saving tips and the things you can do ahead to make dinner time quick and simple. In this way taking the help of such website will definitely prove beneficial for many who want to make their life easy and saving time by trying some of the recipes given in the website.

Evening is the time when all the family members are together and that is why dinner is considered as the main meal of the day where it is expected to have plenty of options, variety and flavor and so preparing dinner can be a herculean task, spending hours together in the kitchen. Even this task can be made easy if certain things are taken into account: -

The best idea to make sure the meal prepared is tasty and fresh is to going for meal planning. Planning for the upcoming meal will keep you away from the hassles. Proper planning and buying all the ingredients required in advance for the coming week will make the task easy and you get along well even after a long hard and tiring day.

You will be sure of what to make in the dinner and will avoid one more visit to a local fast food joint.

Every family member has their choice and demand and wants to have the same for the dinner. To handle such situation try to find out through an informal poll and include at least one favorite in the entire meal. It will not have unsatisfied eaters at the dinner table. In addition to the meal planning you can surf through those hundreds of websites that offer satisfying dinner recipes. The recipes you might think are time consuming these sites would give some amazing shortcut to cut short the required time for any recipe. Isn’t it wonderful to have new twist on pork, beef and fish dishes along with countless number of chicken dishes.

Whether you are trying to make quick dinner or those which will reduce the fats but don’t forget to give them the balanced diet essential for their growth and development.



Vicki

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How Easy Dinner Recipes Can Help You Keep All Your New Year Resolutions

Sunday, October 19th, 2008
Nerida Murray asked:


A quick survey of my friends showed the usual New Year resolutions.

Lose weight

Spend more time with the family

Get the kids eating healthier food

Save money

Pay off the credit card

Travel more

Take up a new hobby



Sound familiar?

What if I told you that the key to nailing your New Year resolutions this year is as simple as making a commitment to eating at home with the family?

“Too easy!” you say, “So what’s the catch?”

The catch? No catch, you just have to cook the meals yourself.

Not convinced eating at healthy home cooked meals will solve all these problems?

Let me show you in more detail:

Lose weight: You have more control over food you prepare at home. You’re less likely to go overboard on the carbs and you can watch the fat, salt and sugar content too. Go for fresh, simple food and do as little to it as you can. Combine this with a gentle exercise routine of say, 30 minutes brisk walking a day, and the weight problem will virtually solve itself.

Spend more time with the family: We’re all so busy these days, but if you can make a house rule that everyone is home at a certain time for dinner (at least some of the time), then you get the value of sharing a meal together as well as sharing some time together. This is made all the more special because you’ve prepared the meal yourself. In fact, get the kids involved and teach them some valuable skills while you are at it.

Get the kids eating healthier food: As you take care of your own resolution to lose weight the kids will benefit too from the healthier food. The only difference is that active kids and teens need more carbs than you do, so give them a serving of low GI brown rice, whole wheat pasta, or wholegrain bread.

Save money; Pay more off the credit card; and Travel more: I’ve lumped these three together because they can all be solved the same way. That is, once you are regularly eating at home, buying unprocessed foods, and not forking out a fortune on fast food and take out, you’ll notice a welcome side effect on your budget. You’ll be starting to save money. Money you can put away for a ‘rainy day’, put on the credit card, or save for a decent holiday. Every little bit helps, and in my experience raw fruit and vegetables and other unprocessed foods are much cheaper to buy than food that just needs to be heated and served.

Take up a new hobby: I think you’ve probably already guessed where I’m heading with this one! Yes, why not join the fastest growing movement in the western world and really get into cooking your own food! You don’t need to produce restaurant quality food every night. Who needs that kind of pressure! All you need is to allow yourself to enjoy food, fresh food, with as many of your senses as you can muster, and share the enthusiasm with your family.

Oh, and a source of easy dinner recipes never goes astray. I can help out there too, so be sure to check out my website for heaps of free recipes as well as tips on healthy eating.

So, what are you waiting for? Will you be going to next years New Year’s Eve party knowing that you’ve failed to keep your resolutions again?

Or are you going to enjoy ticking them all off this year? You’ll never have to make a resolution again…or you could have some fun cultivating a whole set of new vices!

 



David

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Family Favorite Mexican Crock Pot Recipes

Friday, October 3rd, 2008
Sherry Frewerd asked:


There are so many different delicious crock pot recipes available now days. You can feed your family well, and with variety too. If your family loves Mexican dishes, but you’re tired of the same old tacos for dinner, try one of our simple Mexican recipes. Start your meal in the morning and come home to an easy evening of dinner with the family.

These easy Mexican style crock pot recipes are ones your family will love and ask for over and over again. There are three different types: Beef, Chicken and Pasta crock pot recipes listed below. Try one this week and treat your family and yourself to a great meal together.

Mexican Shredded Beef Crock Pot Recipe

4 lbs chuck roast

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 - 4 oz cans green chilies, undrained

3/4 cup hot pepper sauce or to taste

Water

Season chuck roast with salt and pepper. Place in crock pot. Mix together remaining ingredients except water, and spoon over meat. Pour water down along the sides of the crock pot until roast is 1/3 covered. Cover it and cook on high 6 hours. Reduce to low 2-4 hours, until meat falls apart. Shred with forks if needed. Sauce can be thickened with a little flour. This is perfect as a burrito dinner or on buns.

Mexican Chicken Stew Crock Pot Recipe

2 lbs skinless boneless chicken ******* cut into 1 inch pieces

4 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut small

1 -15 oz can mild salsa

1 -4 oz can diced green chilies

1 -1 ¼ oz package taco seasoning mix

1 -8 oz can tomato sauce

Mix all ingredients together in a crock pot, cook 8 hours on low. Serve with warm flour tortillas, and corn or add it to the finished stew.

Mexican Macaroni and Cheese Crock Pot Recipe

5 to 6 cups hot cooked macaroni, drained -12 oz dry

2 tbs butter

1 can 12 oz evaporated milk

1 can nacho cheese soup

2 cups shredded Mexican Cheddar cheese

1 - 4 oz can chopped green chilies

1 - 4 oz can sliced black olives

3/4 cup thick medium salsa

salt and pepper to taste

Grease your crock pot lightly. Toss the hot macaroni with butter; add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours.



Melanie

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