Supreme Burgers

• 2 pounds ground chuck
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons shallots, minced
• 11/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/4 cup Jack Daniel's Whiskey
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Combine ground chuck, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup cream. Shape into six patties. In large skillet, add oil and pan-broil over medium heat until desired degree of doneness. Remove to heated platter. Keep in warm oven while preparing sauce. Cook shallots and mushrooms in pan drippings until tender. Add remaining ingredients and cook for several minutes. Pour sauce over patties. Makes 6 servings.

A Delicious Look at Cuban Food The Internet is a great resource for food lovers. You can find everything from recipes to home delivery of gourmet meals. International foods are a real treat that you can explore and enjoy.

In this article, we will explore Cuban food and offer you an easy recipe. There is a wonderful variety of Cuban food available such as coffee, fruits & jellies, rice dishes, sauces, spices, teas, meats, seafood, desserts, cookies & crackers.

Explore the tastes of light and dark coffee and cappuccino; Café Bustelo, Café Pilon, Café El Pico and several others.

Mango and Guava are used for a variety of fruit dishes and jellies such as Conchita Guava Shells, La Cubanita Mango Cream and La Fe Guava Paste.

Rice dishes are very popular, including those produced by Goya; Paella Dinner, Rice & Black Beans, Rice & Pigeon Peas and tasteful Yellow Rice.

Several sauces and spices add variety to the meals. Brands include Badia, Batey, Conchita and Goya. There is a little bit of everything to add additional flavor to your meals.

Teas are a favorite in the Cuban food line; several varieties from Chamomile to Mango are available.

Even meats can be purchased, Goya Chorizos (sausages), Pamplona Mussels in Brine, Pamplona Octopus in Oil and Sauce.

For dessert, there is Goya Flan, Majarete and Tembleque . Enjoy a variety of Gilda and La Estrella crackers and cookies with a cup of your favorite coffee or tea.

Declare an International Food night and include the Cuban dish below.

Spanish Sausage and Peppers

• 1 Goya Chorizo Sausage
• Olive Oil
• 1 Pepper (Your choice of sweet, red, cayenne, chili, etc.)
• Sherry vinegar
• Fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Chop sausage into bite size chunks. Put olive oil into a frying pan and fry sausage on high heat. Let the fat from the sausage come out into the oil. Cut the pepper into bite size squares. Turn the sausage and add the pepper to the pan. Add a splash of vinegar and the parsley and then mix everything. Skewer pieces of sausage and pepper with toothpicks and put onto a warm plate and serve.

Spanish Food - How To Make Spicy Gazpacho Soup. Home-made soups are so good for you - all that nourishing stock and chock-a-block full of vitamins and minerals.

But ... who on earth could face boiling bones for hours on end during the scorching Spanish summer weather, not to mention preparing the soup once the stock is made? I don´t think it would tickle anybody´s fancy to then have to tuck into a piping-hot soup!

For this reason, the Spanish came up with their wonderful, ice-cold soup - gazpacho - beautifully colorful, packed with goodness, cheap and simple to prepare, no cooking and ... most important of all, an absolute delight to drink.

Traditional gazpacho originates from romantic Andalucia - that large, exotic southerly region of Spain which is home to such extensive Arabic influence.

The chilled, raw soup was originally made by pounding bread and garlic with tomatoes, cucumber and peppers but, nowadays, your electric blender renders this effortless! Olive oil endows it with a smooth, creamy consistency and vinegar adds a refreshing tang - just what you need when life gets too hot to handle!

The spicy soup should be served in true Spanish style with small bowls of accompaniments - finely chopped peppers, cucumber, onion ... even hard-boiled eggs and croutons, if you feel up to it! Guests will then sprinkle what appeals to them on the soup.

Traditional gazpacho is tomato-based, with most Spanish families having developed their own, unique recipes. However, nowadays, you will also find gazpacho recipes that have nothing to do with tomatoes - white, almond-based gazpachos, fruit-based gazpachos, etc.

Do you suffer from insomnia? Could be that drinking gazpacho is the answer, for in Pedro Almodovar´s 1987 film "Mujeres Al Borde De Un Ataque De Nervios", various characters help themselves to the soup and promptly fall asleep!

However, don´t fall asleep just yet as you haven´t read over the recipe!

Ingrediants for 4 servings:

• 4 ripe tomatoes
• 1 onion
• ½ red pepper
• ½ green pepper
• ½ cucumber
• 3 cloves garlic
• 50 g bread
• 3 dessertspoons vinegar
• 8 dessertspoons olive oil
• Water
• Salt/pepper
• ¼ chilli pepper (optional)

Garnishings:

• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• ½ finely chopped onion
• ½ finely chopped red pepper
• ½ finely chopped green pepper
• ½ finely chopped cucumber

Method:
Break up bread and soak in water for 30 minutes.
Skin tomatoes, remove seeds and stalks from peppers.
Peel cucumber, onion and garlic.
Chop onion, garlic, tomatoes, peppers and cucumber.
Place in electric blender.
Squeeze out excess water from bread and add to blender.
Add oil and vinegar.
Blend well.
If necessary, add sufficient water for soup-like consistency.
Pour into a bowl with ice cubes.
Fridge for a couple of hours.
Serve in bowls, with garnishing's in separate dishes.

Gazpacho is best enjoyed sitting in the shade, looking out onto an azure sea, blue sky and golden sun and sands!

Harvest Sweet Potato Pie

Pastry:

• 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) Five Roses All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 tsp (2 ml) salt
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) cold butter, cubed
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp (5 ml) white vinegar
• cold water

Filling:

• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) cooked, mashed sweet potato
• 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) coffee cream or milk
• 3/4 cup (175 ml) packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp (5 ml) cinnamon
• 1 tsp (5 ml) each salt and ginger
• 1/4 tsp (1 ml) each allspice, cloves and nutmeg

Pastry: Combine flour and salt in food processor, fitted with metal blade. Using pulse button, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg and vinegar in measuring cup; add enough cold water to measure 1/3 cup (75 ml). Add to flour mixture and process until dough begins to clump. Press dough into a ball and refrigerate until chilled through. Roll pastry between two pieces of waxed paper. Line a 9-inch (23 cm) pie plate with pastry; chill for 15 min.

Filling: Beat eggs until foamy; blend in sweet potato, cream, brown sugar, salt and spices. Pour into prepared shell. Bake at 425ºF (220ºC) for 15 min,; reduce heat to 350ºF (180ºC) and bake for 40 min. longer or until tester inserted in center of pie comes out clean.

Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry

Christmas recipe serves: 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Calories per serving: 875
Suitable for freezing after step 3.

Christmas recipe ingredients

• Sherry or balsamic vinegar, 15 ml (1 tbsp)
• Caster Sugar, 10 ml (2 tsp)
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil, 120 ml (8 tbsp)
• Cranberries, fresh or frozen 50 g (2 oz)
• Celery, 125 g (4 oz)
• Walnuts, toasted 50 g (2 oz)
• Turkey, roasted meat 450 g (1 lb)
• Garlic cloves, 2
• Olive oil, 15 ml (1 tbsp)
• Fennel seeds (optional), 10 ml (2 tsp)
• Oregano, dried 10 ml (2 tsp)
• Cranberry sauce, 30 ml (2 tbsp)
• Breadcrumbs, fresh 125 g (4 oz)
• Eggs, 2
• Parmesan cheese, freshly grated 50 g (2 oz)
• Oil
• Green salad

Christmas recipe instructions

• Chop the turkey, walnuts and celery into small pieces. Crush peeled garlic. Cook the oregano, fennel seeds, garlic and celery in oil for about five minutes. Then add the cranberry sauce. leave to cool.
• Add salt and pepper to the vinegar and sugar, mix in the oil and cranberries. Heat to boiling, cook for 1 minute and leave to cool.
• Combine salt and pepper, Parmesan cheese, walnuts, eggs, breadcrumbs, celery mixture and turkey. Split into twelve golf-sized meatballs.
• Deep-fat fry the meatballs until golden brown (about 4 minutes). Place them on kitchen towel paper to soak up the oil and serve onto green salad sprinkled with cranberry dressing from step 1.

The Secret to Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Why is that whenever you see a recipe with the finished cookies pictured and then try to duplicate those cookies they never come out "just right"? It's like the fast food commercials that tempt you with a big juicy hamburger perfectly sitting on a fresh bun and when you actually purchase the burger, what you get is a shriveled piece of meat stuck between two flattened pieces of bun!

Do you want your chocolate chip cookies to come out soft and chewy every single time? The secret to perfect chocolate chip cookies is really very simple! And you can make them with any chocolate chip recipe at your disposal.

The problem with most chocolate chip cookie recipes is they have you drop a spoonful on a cookie sheet and bake them for 9 to 12 minutes until the tops are golden brown. That is too long! By the time the tops are golden brown, your bottoms are dark brown, or worse, burnt. After the cookies have baked this long, removing them from the oven in this over-baked condition and having them stand only causes them to harden up like jawbreakers. Instead of soft, chewy cookies that melt in your mouth, you end up with hard, crunchy cookies with burnt bottoms.

Dropping larger amounts on the cookie sheet to make bigger cookies doesn't work. It takes longer for the middle of the cookie to bake and you still end up with burnt bottoms and hard cookies.

Instead of following the recipe instructions to bake 9 to 12 minutes, underbake your cookies by a couple of minutes. The first time you try this, you will have to play around with the time and the size of your cookie drops to get the perfect chocolate chip cookie for your oven. But, as a general rule, after you put your cookie tray in your oven (always on the top rack), set your timer for 6 to 8 minutes. When you pull your cookies out, the entire top should NOT be golden brown. Instead, the peaks of the top of the cookie should just be turning brown. At this time, the entire bottom of your cookie is golden brown and the rest of the cookie is the same color as the batter. Perfect!

Remove the cookie tray from the oven and let the cookies stand for a minute or so since they will be incredibly soft and will fall apart if you try to immediately remove them from the cookie sheet. After they have firmed up a bit, remove them from the cookie sheet to your cooling rack or a piece of wax paper.

With this method, you are guaranteed to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookies and have people asking you what YOUR secret is!

Basic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake in preheated 375 degree F oven for 6 to 7 minutes or until peaks in top of cookie are starting to brown. Let stand for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks or wax paper to cool completely.

Fun & Fruity Recipes

Sometimes the easiest way to get children to eat healthy is to let them have a hand in making their own snacks…and add whipped cream on top. Here are two fruity recipes that are fun and easy to make, and even more fun to eat.

Miniature Fruit Pizzas

• 1 package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 8 ounces softened cream cheese
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Assorted fresh fruit, cut into bite size pieces, such as bananas, kiwis, oranges, blueberries, grapes, strawberries, pineapple, etc.

Directions: Cut sugar cookie dough into 1-inch slices and place on ungreased cookie sheet or pizza pan. Bake as directed, or until lightly browned around the edges. Allow the cookies to cool.

Combine cream cheese and confectioners' sugar; mix well. Spread over cooled cookies. Decorate with assorted fruit. Yummy!

Strawberry Angels

• 1 angel food cake
• 6 large strawberries
• 1 carton whipped topping

Directions: First, cut the cake into serving-size pieces. Slice the strawberries and layer on top of the cake. Then spoon whipped topping on top of the strawberries. Serve and enjoy!

Curried Turkey Wraps

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Makes: 4 servings (wraps)


Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup (50 mL) Knorr Spicy Caribbean Marinade
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) light mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) honey
• 3/4 tsp (3 mL) curry powder
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) diced celery
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) raisins or dried cranberries
• 2 cups (500 mL) shredded cooked turkey
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) slivered almonds, toasted
• 4 Boston lettuce leaves
• 4 large flour tortillas, warmed to soften

In large bowl, mix together Knorr Spicy Caribbean Marinade, mayonnaise, honey and curry powder. Stir in celery, green onions, raisins (or dried cranberries), turkey and almonds. Place one lettuce leaf on each tortilla. Scoop 1/2 cup (125 mL) turkey mixture onto lettuce. Fold in sides and roll up to enclose filling. Enjoy! Tip: For best flavour, refrigerate turkey mixture 30 minutes before filling tortillas.

The Perfect Complement

The origin of onion soup is rooted in two legends. The first story credits its origin with King Louis XV of France who returned late one night to his hunting lodge, and all that was on hand were onions, butter and champagne. He mixed them together and created the first French Onion Soup. Another legend states that decades ago, farmers in Les Halles, the old market place of Paris, would sip on huge mugs of boiling onion soup to keep warm while setting up for the mornings activities.

The perfect complement to any meal or by itself, this popular flavourful broth with zesty sautéed onions is topped with melted Gruyère cheese for a truly wonderful taste experience.

French Onion Soup with Gruyère Croutons (Serves 4)

• 3 tbsp (45 mL) butter or margarine
• 4 large Spanish onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp (125 mL) all-purpose flour
• 1 carton (900 mL) Knorr Beef Broth
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) brandy
• 4 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick slices of French bread, toasted
• 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) Gruyère cheese

In large saucepan, melt butter and sauté onions on medium heat, stirring frequently 35-40 minutes, until golden brown. Add flour, and cook while stirring for 1-2 minutes. Stir in white wine, Knorr Beef Broth and bay leaf, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Stir in brandy, season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preheat broiler. Ladle soup evenly into 4 broiler proof bowls. Top each bowl with a slice of toasted bread and grated cheese. Place on baking sheet about 4"-5" (10-13 cm) from heat source and broil until cheese melts and bubbles.

Best Recipes: Baja Fish Tacos

Relax and enjoy a bit of the Baja vibe with these laid-back fish tacos.

• 2 pkgs. Frozen grilled fish fillets (garlic butter flavor)
• 2 cups coleslaw mix
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons green onions, sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 taco shells or corn tortillas, warmed
• Red or green taco sauce

Directions
Bake fish according to package directions. Meanwhile, combine coleslaw mix, cilantro, onions, oil, lime juice, and salt in medium bowl. Let stand 20 minutes. Cool fish slightly; flake into large pieces with fork. Fill taco shells with fish, coleslaw mixture, and taco sauce.

The Secret To Making Perfect Chili Fit For A King

Every autumn my thoughts turn to making chili. The garden is about done. The freezer is full of veggies. All the canning is done, and winter is coming. Just before winter hits, the price of beef drops as cattlemen sell off any remaining stock that they don't want to "winter over". It is the perfect time to stock the freezer with homemade chili.

There is nothing better than to come home at the end of a cold winter day, chilled to the bone, and sit down to a bowl of piping hot chili and steaming black coffee. It is more than food for the body. It is truly a comfort worth remembering.

By itself, chili is absolutely delicious. As a side dish to grilled cheese sandwiches, tuna melts, or toasted BLTs, it is out of this world. But there is a fabulous meal I call "perfect chili fit for a king" that is even better. It is a masterpiece of cookery.

There are two great secrets to making "perfect chili fit for a king". One is in the making, and the other is in the serving. The first secret involves understanding the word "perfect". More people disagree on what makes good chili than any other dish. Some think that hotter is better. Others say milder. Some like it soupy. Others like it thick. And that is the secret to this recipe. When you finish making it, you will have 3-4 gallons of chili that is perfect FOR YOU...not for me. Yes, I said 3-4 gallons. When frozen in quart containers, you will have 12-16 wonderful meals that can be served in a matter of minutes. Just remove it from the container, add about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water (depending on how you like it), turn on the burner, put on the coffee, and start the grilled cheese and garlic sandwiches. Your family will be eating in about 20 minutes.

To begin with, you will need at least a 16 quart pot. I use the same 20 quart pot normally used for canning just to be sure I have a pot that's big enough. And you will need the following ingredients.

• 5 lbs. of ground chuck
• 5 Family size (40 1/2 oz.) cans of dark red kidney beans (drained)
• 1 Institutional size can (6 lb. 9 oz.) of whole peeled tomatoes
• 3 large bell peppers (washed, cored, and seeded) mixed colors preferred
• 3 medium to large oninions (about the size of an orange...peeled and washed)
• 2 to 4 TBS (tablespoons) Ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp (teaspoons) to 1 TBS of crushed red pepper
• 1 to 2 TBS of salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chili powder
• grated sharp cheddar cheese
• sour cream
• chopped chives (fresh or dried)

Open the tomatoes and carefully pour the entire contents into the cooking pot. Making sure you keep your hand submerged below the liquid line, find the whole tomatoes one by one. Poke a hole in them with your thumb, then squeeze the tomato until the pieces squish out between your fingers. WARNING. If you do not poke a hole in the tomato before you squish it, I promise you that both you and your kitchen will be wearing tomato juice. The same is true if you squish them with your hands above the liquid. Continue squishing the pieces of tomato until they are the size you prefer.

Chop all the bell peppers into dime-sized chunks and divide into two equal portions. Put one half into a bowl and the other in the pot with the tomatoes. Do the same with the onions, placing half in the pot and the other half in the same bowl as the bell peppers.

Add the drained kidney beans to the pot.
Add 2 TBS (tablespoons) of Ground black pepper to the pot.
Add 1 1/2 tsp (teaspoons) of crushed red pepper to the pot.
Add 1 TBS of salt to the pot.
Add 1/4 cup of chili powder to the pot.

Take a strong spoon and mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Put the pot on the stove, and set the burner on the LOWEST possible setting that will boil water. At this point, you may feel that the chili is too thick. If you are not sure, the best way to tell is if the chili is too hard to stir. If it is, add water to the pot until it is the consistency you prefer. Stir again. Cover the pot. (Note: if you are adding more than two glasses of water, you may want to substitute tomato juice for part of it.)

From now own, two things are very important. Always keep the chili at the consistency you want by adding water when necessary. So that when the chili is done, the consistency will be perfect for you. It is equally important to stir the pot every 5-10 minutes. When you are cooking this much chili at one time, it is possible to burn it on the bottom while the chili on the top is still cold. Stirring keeps the chili evenly heated from top to bottom.

Take a large frying pan and press enough ground chuck into the pan to cover the bottom with a layer about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick. Salt and pepper the meat and then top with a handful of the chopped onions and peppers from the bowl. Cover and cook with the burner set about one notch higher than the pot is set on. Your goal is to partially cook the gound chuck, onions and peppers. Check the meat about every 5 minutes until it starts to firm. When the meat firms and starts changing colors on the bottom, take a strong spatula (the kind used for flipping hamburgers) and use the edge to start cutting the meat into pie shaped pieces. Flip the pieces to the opposite side, cover, and continue cooking. When the other side starts to firm, using the edge of the spatula, cut the hamburger into the size pieces you prefer (Again, I prefer mine about the size of a dime). Keep flipping the smaller pieces until they have completely turned on the outside and are firm. Remove the pan from the burner, and transfer the meat to the pot using a slotted spoon. Allow all the grease to drain from the spoon before you put the meat in the pot. Pour off the grease in the frying pan, and repeat until you have used all the ground chuck. When you are finished, pour any remaining chopped peppers and onions into the pot. Again, each time you add meat to the pot, adjust the consistency with water if necessary.

Now, everything is in the pot, and it is the perfect consistency. Now, it's time to adjust the spices. If you haven't been doing so, you should begin tasting the chili. If you want a stronger chili flavor, add more chili powder 1 or 2 TBS at a time. To make it more spicy, add black pepper 1 TBS at a time. If you want it to have more bite, add crushed red pepper 1 tsp at a time. If it needs salt, add salt 1/2 TBS at a time. Stir thoroughly each time you alter the flavor, and continue cooking for at least 5-15 minutes before tasting again. ALWAYS sir the pot thoroughly before you taste. Continue altering the flavor until it's perfect for you.

Remember the half of the raw onions and peppers that were added directly to the pot? They will tell you when the chili is done. When the raw onions in the pot start to turn clear, turn the burner off. Do not overcook the peppers and onions as they add a wonderful sweet crisp texture to the chili. If you can stand it, allow the chili to sit covered for about an hour to allow the flavors to mature and mingle. Stir and serve. If you prefer, reheat a portion of the chili in a smaller pot and serve bubbling hot. Allow the remaining chili to stand in the original pot until it cools enough to place in containers and freeze.

There you have it. Perfect chili. Just the way YOU like it.

With that in mind, let's plan the meal. To begin with dispense with the ordinary salad and add something with more zest and contrast. To accomplish this, there is nothing finer than an ice-cold fruit plate served with bubbling hot chili. For the fruit plate, you will need the following ingredients.

1 20 oz. can of pineapple chunks.
1 29 oz. can of peach halves (heavy syrup preferred)
1 29 oz. can of pear halves (heavy syrup preferred)
1 6 oz. jar of red maraschino cherries
1 6 oz. jar of green maraschino cherries
1 small jar of spiced crabapple rings
crisp cold lettuce
jalapeno pepper-jack cheese

Put all of the ingredients in the bottom of the refrigerator for at least 24 hours (48 hours would be better).

Just before serving time, remove the ingredients from the refrigerator and drain all the fruit. Divide the pear and peach halves equally on six salad plates covered with a bed of cold crisp lettuce. Fill in around the fruit halves with pineapple chunks and crabapple slices. Spread the cold red and green maraschino cherries equally over all the fruit plates, and line the outer edge of each plate with bite-size nuggets of jalapeno pepper-jack cheese.

Fill the bowls of chili straight from the bubbling pot. Top with grated sharp cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Finish with a light dusting of chives. Serve the fruit plate and chili with hunks of hot buttered garlic bread and sweet iced tea. For dessert, follow up with pecan pie, lemon meringue pie, or hot blueberry cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream ... served with steaming cups of strong black coffee. Oh! My!

Perfect chili can be more than just stick-to-your ribs "down home" cooking. It can be a culinary masterpiece that produces such delicious complementing and contrasting flavors and sensations that it is quite literally "Fit for a King".

Best Recipes: Banana Chocolate Milkshake

Got any ripe bananas sitting around the house? Great. Then instead of letting them get too ripe to eat, make yourself a nice, cold delicious banana chocolate milkshake. It’s fun and easy to do.

All you do is slice up the banana and add it to some cocoa chocolate and milk and you’ve got yourself a nice afternoon snack. This milkshake will also give you a real boost of energy too. Now you know you’ll never have to waste another banana again.

Banana Chocolate Milkshake

• 1 cup skim milk
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 medium ripe banana, sliced
• 8 large ice cubes

Directions
In blender container pour milk. Add cocoa. Cover, blend on low speed until well mixed. Add sugar, vanilla and banana. Cover, blend until smooth. Add ice cubes, one at a time, blending until thick.

Best Recipes: Southwestern Mango Smoothie

Looking for a great mango smoothie? Try a Southwestern Mango Smoothie. The mango goes west for this variation of the popular fruit smoothie drink. Mangoes are becoming more common in the U.S. and other western countries and this is the perfect smoothie for all you mango lovers.

This Southwestern Mango Smoothie uses lush tropical fruits. Instead of the mango, you can use either papaya or guava. Add a banana and yum. This is a simple way to get your mango on!

Southwestern Mango Smoothie

• 1/2 cup banana, sliced
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup mango, papaya, or guava
• 1 tablespoon honey

Directions
Use only one kind of tropical fruit (mango, papaya or guava) above. Place all ingredients in food processor. Cover and process on high speed until smooth. Strain if using mango.

Best Recipes: Three Bean Enchilada Chili

A chili recipe with three kinds of beans means three times the flavor!

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (15 to 16 oz.) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 to 16 oz.) can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (10 oz.) can enchilada sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• Tortilla chips, broken (optional)
• Cheddar cheese, shredded (optional)

Directions
Heat oil in 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook onion and bell pepper in oil about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp but slightly tender.

Stir in remaining ingredients, except tortilla chips and cheese. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered 10 to 15 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle each serving with tortilla chips and cheese.

My Mother's Recipe Box

Remember the days when cookbooks weren't so readily available, and you or your mother relied on only one or two different cookbooks for cooking all of your family's meals? I still have my mother's old cookbooks, as well as my grandmother's. Each one is worn from age and use--if you flip through the tattered pages it is obvious which recipes were turned to time and time again. These cookbooks will always number among my most precious treasures.

When our mothers wanted to try new recipes, they most likely didn't run out and buy new cookbooks. They often didn't have the extra money to spend, and often there weren't very many to choose from. So where did they get new recipes? From each other.

When I was a child I remember my mother exchanging recipe cards with friends and relatives and bringing them home and filing them away in her recipe box. I always loved going through her recipes (although she often got mad at me for getting them all out of order!)

All the years while I was learning how to cook I went through her recipe box time and time again, pulling out my favorite recipes and preparing them again and again.

Seeing who the recipes were from made them all the more special. I also love looking back at all the recipe cards I prepared myself while I was in 4-H and spent much of my time learning how to cook. I still prepare many of the recipes I used back then. To this day, all I have to do is open my recipe card box, and I am instantly transported back in time.

My mother hasn't exchanged recipe cards with anyone in more than 20 years. I have very few of my own (although I hope to inherit hers someday!) But even to this day there is no better place to find favorite family recipes than in my mother's recipe box.

Twenty years from now, I look forward to going through my recipe box with my own daughter, telling her stories about where all of my different recipes came from.

Christmas Cheesecake

This is a cheesecake that I have been making for over 20 years if you follow the recipe to the tee you won't have any problem, it is also colorful as well as the most lucious piece of pastry that you ever put in your mouth.

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter ir margarine melted
• 2 pounds cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 ounces sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 cup in total
• chopped candied cherries,
• red and green
• raisins, walnuts, candied pineapple
• 1/2 cup small chocolate chips

In a 5 quart mixing bowl place 2 pounds of cream cheese and 1 cup granulated sugar and mix on low speed until cream cheese is softened and smooth, place in bowl 8 ounces sour cream and continue mixing until well blended, at this time add 2 eggs, mix for 2 minutes then add 1 cup flour, and 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, mix on second speed until your cheesecake batter is smooth and creamy.

At this time your cheesecake mixture should be fluffy like ice cream as it comes out of the ice cream machine. Add the candied fruit, raisins, walnuts, pineapple, chocolate chips, fold everything together.

Prepair your 10 inch x 2 inches springform pan, in a large bowl place your graham cracker crumbs and 2 tablespoons sugar, and your melted butter or margarine, then with a wire whisk, whisk them together until well combined, brush onto the sides of your springform pan a little softened butter so the crumbs have something to hold to, place the crumbs on the sides and bottom of the pan. Now you add slowly to the pan your cheesecake mix as not to disturb the crumbs too much, now you should have a full pan.

The total weight of the cheesecake with the crumbs on the sides should be 5 to 5-1/4 pounds if you have some batter leftover just chill it, put some whip cream on it and enjoy.

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees and not more, when your oven is hot place the cheesecake in it and bake for 55 minutes then shut off the oven and let it in there for 3 hours, at the end of this time you should have the most beautiful cheesecake you ever seen, let the cheesecake on the table for 1 1/2 hours then place it in the refrigerator for about 2-3 hours. Now remove it from the pan and enjoy.

Before serving sprinkle some red and green edible glitter that you can purchase at any store that has cake decorating supplies.

Oriental Chicken Wings

This exciting Chinese chicken dish masterfully blends the flavoursome tastes and spices of the exotic Orient. Try it today; you won't be sorry!

1 1/2 pounds chicken wings -- disjointed 1 medium egg 1/2 cup soy sauce 2 tablespoons garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder 1 medium onion -- finely diced 2 cups finely crushed corn flakes

Mix together egg, soy sauce, garlic powder and ginger powder. Set aside.

On wax paper, mix together crushed corn flakes and diced onion. Dip each wing in soy sauce mixture, then roll in corn flakes and onion.

In a glass baking dish, cover and cook wings on high (9) for 20 minutes, or until cooked. Remove covering halfway through cooking. Use 13" x 9" baking dish. Yield: 24 appetizers.

You Don't Know Beans!

Looking for reasons to get your family to eat more legumes? It turns out that the skin on beans is not just an important source of fibre, it's rich in powerful nutrient compounds that may help prevent chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease. So haul out the old saucepan and start experimenting. From navy through to pinto, black and kidney, beans not only taste good, their benefits will be music to your ears!

Black Bart's Souper Black Bean Soup
This delicious soup is made in minutes and serves four. Enjoy it with thick slices of toasted wholegrain bread and you've got a nutritious, four food group meal.

• 1 can black or black turtle beans, drained and rinsed (19 oz/540 mL)
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (375 mL)
• 3/4 cup chunky salsa (180 mL)
• 1/2 cup corn niblets (125 mL)
• Dash of hot sauce (optional)
• Squirts of fresh lime juice (optional)
• 1 cup shredded Canadian Cheddar, Colby or (250 mL)
• Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/8 cup finely chopped green onions (30 mL)

Combine first 5 ingredients in saucepan and heat thoroughly. Spoon into 4 bowls. Add lime juice. Combine shredded cheese and green onions. Portion on top of each serving.

Traditional Cajun Chicken Wings

According to the late great novelist Mark Twain, "New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin". See what exactly Mr Twain meant by cooking up a veritable storm with my traditional Cajun Chicken Wing recipe featured below!


CAJUN CHICKEN WINGS

• 12 Chicken wings -- tips removed
• 5 Bay leaves -- crumbled into bits
• 3/4 teaspoon Caraway seeds
• 1/2 To 3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon Ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon Ground coriander
• 4 Garlic cloves -- finely
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Dry mustard
• 2 teaspoons Paprika -- preferably 3/4 teaspoon Dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 2 tablespoons Brandy
• 2 tablespoons Fresh lemon or lime juice

Defat the chicken wings by cooking them in boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a large mortar and pestle, grind together the bay leaf bits, caraway seeds, cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, garlic, mustard, paprika, thyme and salt for about 10 minutes. Add the brandy and lemon or lime juice to the pulverized herbs and stir into a thick paste. With a pastry brush, cover both sides of each wing with the herb paste. When no more remains in the mortar, squeeze the last few drops from the brush. Arrange the chicken wings on a baking sheet. Bake until the skin turns deep brown and is quite crisp approximately 30 minutes. Takes about an hour to prepare.