Freezable Breakfast Tacos – Easy Breakfast Idea

Looking for a quick and easy way to tackle the breakfast rush? The key to eating a nutritious breakfast is planning ahead. On busy days, it is great to have these in the freezer, ready to microwave and go.

1 dozen eggs
½ cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 package frozen hashbrowns
1 pound breakfast sausage
1 jar salsa
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz shredded monterey jack cheese
20 flour tortillas medium size
You will need parchment paper and ziplock bags for wrapping and freezing.

1. Prepare the hashbrowns according to the package directions.

2. Fry the breakfast sausage.

3. Scramble the eggs with the milk and salt and pepper.

4. Mix the hashbrowns, sausage, and eggs in a large bowl.

5. Mix the cheeses.

6. On a square of parchment paper, place one tortilla.

7. Place several tablespoons of hashbrown, sausage, and egg mixture onto the tortilla in a line, slightly off center. Amount used will depend on the size of your tortilla, but don’t stuff too full.

8. Add a Tablespoon of salsa thinly along the top of the egg mixture. Sprinkle cheese on top of all.

9. Fold the ends gently in, then fold over one side and roll up.

10. Roll up in wax paper, place into ziplock bag, and repeat with next tortilla.

11. Place the tortillas into the freezer.

12. When ready to eat, place tortilla into microwave on high for ninety seconds. Add 1 minute for each additional tortilla.

Now that you’ve tried this recipe, be creative. Perhaps stuff the tortillas with tonight’s leftover mashed potatoes and roast beef. Try ham with macaroni and cheese. Use your imagination and your leftovers to create healthy breakfasts that can be ready in a minute. Enjoy!

Father’s Day Steak: Tips For Cooking A Mouth Watering Steak

It’s a trite, but often repeated saying: The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. So why, when Father’s Day rolls around, do we buy endless ties and “message” T shirts? Is the way to his heart through his clothes? Not likely. It’s the stomach, people, and that means good food. For many men, good food comes in the form of a great steak.

So what if you’re not a steak eater, or you eat it only in restaurants and the thought of purchasing a raw slab scares you to death? Fear not. It’s not that complicated, really. Even a caveman can handle this job.

It’s important to know your cuts of meat before planning the menu. You don’t want to cook the dad in your life a tasteless, tough piece of leather. You might not notice the difference, but let’s face it – he will. Since you’ll likely be grilling, it’s important to know the best cuts of meat for the grill.

You want to choose the most tender portions of meat for grilling. Experts generally consider these cuts of beef to be the best for grilling:

– Rib Eye
– T-Bone
– Porterhouse
– Strip steak (like New York steak)

If there is the word “loin” on the package, you’re in good shape, though most grill experts agree the T-bone is the most superior cut of beef for grilling. It stays tender and juicy, and is thick enough to withstand a fair amount of time on the grill without overcooking. Stay away from top round or anything with “round” or “chuck” in the name. These will not cook well on the grill. Flank steak and London broil can also be tough.

Next, it’s important to know how to choose a steak. Don’t just grab the first package that looks good to you. Look for some good marbling in the steak. Yes, this is another word for fat. But we’re not cooking for the dieter in the family on this special day, we’re trying to give dad a good steak, remember? Those little bits of fat scattered about the steak will essentially melt while the meat is cooking, giving the meat a rich and more tender flavor.

In that same vein, don’t trim the fat from your steak before cooking. It might be the diet book author in you coming out, but that thick layer of fat around your steak is what will give the steak a wonderful juicy quality and rich flavor. You can cook the steak, and then trim the fat, but cook the steak while it’s still dressed in its fat clothes. It’s worth it.

Do you need to buy a “name brand” steak? Experts say it’s not necessary, even though branded meat is a new commodity and becoming more widely available. Nor is it necessary to choose a steak from a butcher shop or from behind the glass window in the meat department at your local grocery store. Usually the pre-packaged steaks are the same you would get from behind the glass, and since the butcher is a dying breed, you could certainly go that route if you have a neighborhood butcher, but if not, a good quality grocery store will provide what you need.

Finally, it’s important to know your grades of steak.

– Prime is the top grade, and it features the most marbling and is the most tender, but most of us don’t have access to this grade in mainstream grocery stores. This is often what you get in a restaurant.

– Choice is the best grade most of us can get in the grocery store. But choice does not guarantee high quality as this grade encompasses meat that can be almost as good as prime, or almost as bad as select, our next grade.

– Select beef is the most lean and least expensive beef and is the grade of beef most commonly found in your grocery store meat case. Since this is Father’s Day, try to find choice and splurge a little.

If you are unsure about your ability to pick up a good steak locally, consider ordering online and having fresh, high-quality steaks delivered to your door.

At OmahaSteaks.com, you can buy a large variety pack of meat, grill some for dad, and then send him home with a few spares for another day. KansasCitySteaks.com offers prime quality steaks for a restaurant-quality dad’s meal.

Everyone Loves Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you are like me, you remember how much you loved visiting grandma’s house as a kid. You loved it because you got spoiled there. She let you play any game you wanted, you got to be silly and goofy, and you could even have candy before dinner. Grandma let you do all of the things that your mom said no to. But there is another reason kids love going to grandma’s house to visit: her chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate cookies are loved by most people I know. And most of us discovered our love for them as small children in the comfort of grandma’s kitchen. For some reason her cookies were always much better than mom’s. Maybe it is because they were always hot and soft or because she probably let you eat as many as you wanted. Whatever the reason, one thing is sure. You loved, and maybe still do love, chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate chip cookies are the perfect snack. You can eat them when they are warm and right out of the oven or you can save them for a few days and still enjoy them just as much. Some people even love to eat the dough of the chocolate chip cookies before they are baked. Not many other snacks can be eaten in so many fun ways. Perfect with a glass of milk, chocolate cookies can be enjoyed after school, just before bed, and during any season of the year. They are just as good when it is freezing cold outside as they are in the middle of summer.

Chocolate chip cookies are the most famous kind of cookies. Everyone has eaten one and most everyone loves them. You can find them in every grocery store and bakery you enter, and most every cook I know has a special recipe to make the perfect batch. Chocolate chip cookies are great because they are made with a few simple ingredients, most of which you have in the house all the time.

Making chocolate chip cookies is a perfect way to get children started working in a kitchen and learning to cook. All kids love to help mom with mixing and pouring the ingredients together, and there is nothing better to let kids experiment with than chocolate chip cookies. Kids can get involved and have a special job to do and they can see and taste the results of their hard work. Baking chocolate chip cookies is a great family building activity that can fill any Saturday afternoon with fun.

So the next time you remember how great grandma’s chocolate chip cookies really were, get out your own secret recipe and get your whole family to make the special memory of making and baking the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Cooking Basics for Beginners

When it comes to cooking, it is important to keep in mind that everyone started somewhere. I do not know of a single person who was born with a wooden cooking spoon and ready to go. There is a lot of learning that must be done in order to become a prolific cook and then there is always room for improvement. Not only do you need to begin with the basics when it comes to cooking but you almost need to begin again when learning to cook a new cuisine such as Chinese, Thai, or Indian food.

This means that at any given time in your cooking learning cycles there is quite probably someone somewhere that is better and/or worse at cooking than you. Take heart from this because even the best have bad days when it comes to cooking. There are many people who cook for different reasons. Some cook in order to eat and survive while others cook because they actually enjoy the process of cooking. Some cook during times of emotional upheaval and others cook out of sheer boredom. Whatever your reason for cooking or learning to cook you should always begin with the basics.

The first thing that you need to learn is what the different terminology you will find in recipes actually means. There are many new and sometimes foreign sounding terms that you will find in common recipes. These terms can mean the difference in recipe success or failure. You should be able to find a good section in any inclusive cookbook that explains the different definitions for unfamiliar terminology. If you aren’t absolutely certain what is meant by “folding in the eggs” it is in your best interests to look it up.

Another great bit of advice when it comes to cooking basics is to try simpler recipes for a while and then expand your horizons to the more complex recipes that abound. Most recipes will have a little note about their degree of difficulty and you can read through the recipe to see whether or not it is something you are interested in preparing or confident that you can prepare. Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day and it will take quite some time to build a reliable ‘repertoire’ of recipes to work into your meal planning rotation.

The good news is that once you’ve learned the basics of cooking it is unlikely that you will ever need to relearn them. This means that you can constantly build up and expand your cooking skills. As you learn new recipes and improve your culinary skills and talents you will discover that preparing your own meals from scratch is much more rewarding than preparing prepackaged meals that are purchased from the shelves of your local supermarkets.

You will also discover as your experience and confidence grows that you will find yourself more and more often improvising as you go and adjusting recipes to meet your personal preferences. If you prefer more or less of ingredients or want to make a recipe a little more or less spicy in flavor you can make simple adjustments along the way in order to achieve this goal. In other words you will begin in time to create recipes of your very own. And that is something you won’t necessarily learn when it comes to basic cooking skills for beginners but you would never learn if you didn’t master those basic cooking skills.

Cookie Decorating Book – Learn The Art Of Decorating

Cookies are delicious to eat and can be eaten any time of the day. Why not try making delicious cookies all by yourself. Today there are different types of cookie decorating book that can help you prepare delicious and yummy cookies. These books provide you with not only mouth watering recipes but also different ways of decorating your cookie.

Everyone likes to eat cookie especially children who may love to eat every day. Don’t you want to give tasty and decorated cookies to them or have it yourself? This book gives a different look to your cookies that attracts the attention of your guest. Moreover the tips provided in this book are simple and easy to understand.

Cook decorating book provides you essential tips and guidelines that can help you in decorating cookies. With the help of this book you can give an attractive look to your cookies. Purchase cookie decorating book to decorate cookies for Christmas celebration, birthday party or a picnic trip.

Cookie Decorating Book: Features
The main feature of this book is that it contains some of the best tips to decorate your cookies. Even though it acts as cookie decorator it is available at a very reasonable and affordable price. It contains step by step instructions and attractive pictures so as to render special guidance. It contains easy and simple project work for its user.

Cookie Decorating Book: Advantage
Cookies decoration book not only contains cookies decoration tips but it also provides various cookie making recipes, which is an added advantage. With the guidance of this book you can decorate the cookies in a unique manner.

You may have tried Cake Decorating Book or some other Decoration Books but it is the best time to try Cookie Decorating Book as it is available at best reasonable prices that make up your cookies. You can get wide collections in Cookie Decoration Book that makes your purchase beneficial.

If you are a professional cookie maker you can extract much greater benefits that enhance your professional skill. Decorate your best cookies just like your grandma use to decorate.

Cook Wisely To Avoid Diabetes!

There is a strong correlation between obesity and the onset of type 2 diabetes with its associated insulin resistance. It should be pointed out that in the United States the proportion of the population under 40 that can be clinically defined as obese now exceeds 25%. Many children are obese and are developing type 2 diabetes at an alarming epidemic rate. The dramatic rise in obesity in the US has lead to an equally alarming increase in the percentage of the population who suffer from the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome is a clustering of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk factors, one of which involves insulin resistance characteristic in type 2 diabetes. It should be pointed out that obesity alone does not always lead to insulin resistance as some individuals who are obese do not experience insulin resistance and conversely, some individuals who manifest insulin resistance are not obese.

Is diabetes serious?

Yes. Diabetes is a life-long condition. High blood glucose levels over a long period of time can cause blindness, heart disease, kidney problems, amputations, nerve damage, and erectile dysfunction. Good diabetes care and management can delay or prevent the onset of these complications.

The good news

You can live a long and healthy life by keeping your blood glucose levels in your target range. You can do this by:

1. Eating healthy meals
2. Being physically active regularly
3. Taking diabetes medication, including insulin

Things you should know about insulin
When insulin was first discovered and made available for people with diabetes, there was only one kind of short-acting insulin. This required several injections a day. As time went on, new insulins were developed that lasted longer, requiring fewer injections, but requiring strict attention to timing of meals.

This gives more flexibility in the number and timing of injections, making it easier to maintain target blood glucose levels, based on your lifestyle. One to four injections a day may be suggested to you for optimal control of your blood glucose.

Are there any precautions before changing over to insulin?

Before considering a move to insulin it is worth examining all the option with regard to combination therapy. Diet should be optimised and the benefit of exercise discussed. It is important to be aware of the possibility of weight gain and of the need to maintain weight ‘neutral’ especially if already obese.

Choosing The Perfect Charcoal Grill

Everyone loves good, old fashioned charcoal grilling. Aside from being cheaper than other grilling methods, it adds a raw, distinctive taste to your sausages, burgers, ribs, and other grilled items. Some people prefer charcoal grills over gas grills because they are easier to transport and are safer to use than gas. While there are differences in opinion and preference among grillers, it still remains that charcoal grills are here to stay. So be it an picnic, or an outdoor grill, charcoal grills will more that make up their worth in usefulness and reliability. When choosing charcoal grills, however, it pays to know what your needs are and to know the pros and cons of having such a grill over the other available grills around.

1. Cooking Space

First of all, you have to determine how much space you need for grilling. If you are grilling for a small family of three, you will do well enough with a 75 square-inch grill. You will have to consider larger grills if you are cooking for more people. It doesn’t make sense if you bring a puny sub-75 inch grill to a large picnic. Remember that the size of your grill increases the amount of items you can grill exponentially. Just looking at the grill won’t give you a clear idea on how big the grilling area is. Some grills have a warming rack that increases the perceived size of your grill.

2. Portability

- Get grills that have wheels
- Try choosing grills whose parts are ergonomic and efficient
- Lessen the risk of damaging your grill when transporting
- Your grill also has to withstand the rigors of outdoor use
- It does not pay to purchase a flimsy looking grill – go for those that are durable and lasting

3. Convenience

Some charcoal grills come with their own igniters. Try choosing grills that have this option. Other grills need lighter fluid to fire up. With the built-in igniter, you will not need lighter fluid anymore. On the other hand, you may want to avoid lighter fluid altogether. Some people dislike the taste and smell this fluid adds to the grill. If you must, use alcohol instead. It burns odorless and does not ruin the flavor of your food. Choose grills that allow you to easily access the ash pan. This makes cleaning the grill a lot easier. It also lessens the amount of ash flakes that may settle in your food. Also, lids are a very important part of the grill. Choose a grill that has a lid to keep the heat trapped within the grill. This allows for faster and smokeless grilling.

4. Quality

The materials used in making the grill are also very important. Some grills are made of material that easily corrodes or does not stand up well against the elements. Stainless steel grills hold up remarkably well to both the weather and the heat of the grill. Try avoiding painted grills as the paint may easily flake of. Although lightweight, durable materials are hard to come by among grills, you would do best to look for such. Remember, though, that first and foremost, the most important built characteristic you are looking for in a grill is durability.

Choosing Foods For Your Special Event

Choosing the right menu for a special event can be just as important as choosing a location. Food can communicate a theme, convey a feeling or set the mood of an entire night. If you are planning a high-class extravaganza, hot dogs and beer might not be appropriate. However, they might be the perfect choice for a birthday party at the lake. Taking great care in planning a menu shows your guests how much you appreciate them, and a great meal can help make a special day even more memorable.

If you are planning a birthday party for your child, an interactive meal can be a fun activity for your guests. Rather than slaving away in the kitchen all day or spending countless dollars ordering pizzas, you can save time and money by letting the guests make their own special creations. One fun idea is to prepare a multitude of toppings and let the children make their own bagel or English muffin pizzas. They will have a blast piling on strange combinations of toppings, and they will enjoy feeling like grown-ups in the kitchen.

For a more formal occasion like a holiday party, finger foods can be great for mingling guests, and they can be great topics of conversation. The obligatory finger sandwich can be spiced up by adding your own special pesto or cheese spread to an already tried and true recipe. Experiment with different ingredients in the weeks prior to the party, and test them out on your family. You will know when you get the reaction you are looking for, and you might end up spending much of the party writing down your recipe for your guests.

Planning a menu for a wedding can be quite stressful, especially when you are not sure exactly how many guests will be attending. The rule of thumb is that too much is better than not enough, even if it means having a lot of food left over at the end of the night. You can choose to have a buffet-style dinner, or you can have a set menu for your guests. It is important to consider your guests with special dietary needs. You should have vegetarian and low-sodium alternatives to your main courses, and you should have a heart-healthy menu for those who must avoid foods with high fat contents.

Before attempting a large-scale meal, you should make all of the dishes several times to perfect your recipes. Your goal is to have guests asking for more even after it all runs out. Test your creations on a variety of people and make adjustments according to their suggestions. When cooking food from your own recipes, it is important to remember the details of what you did every time you make it. That way you will know what went wrong when something turns out horrible, and more importantly what went right when you receive raving reviews.

Planning portions is the most important part of catering your own party. Though most recipes tell you how many people they will feed, it is best to err on the side of caution. If a recipe feeds eight, you might want to count it as six or seven, depending on how many guests you expect. Plan that half of your guests will want to go back for seconds. If you know that one dish will be a favorite, be sure to make extra. Though the green beans may be the healthier option, you can usually bet that the cheesecake will go a lot quicker. Keep in mind that the greater the variety, the more people you will please, so even if you are a steamed vegetable lover, you should probably prepare some beefy options for your less than health conscious guests.

Choices For Buying, Cooking And Enjoying Fish

Wild Salmon

There are six species of Pacific salmon – chum, coho, king (chinook), pink, sockeye and steelhead – and all are wild. Wild West coast salmon are harvested commercially in Washington, Oregon, Alaska and much of Canada. Smoked wild salmon is a delicious seafood item. The delicacy is simple to prepare and lends itself to a wide variety of dishes.

Salmon is high in Omega-3 fatty acids which is well known as having health benefits. Studies have shown that smoked salmon has a very low level of mercury, unlike some other seafood.The Journal of American Medicine Association recently published a report stating that adding salmon at least once a week to your diet will cut the risk of sudden cardiac death in half.

Tuna

Tuna is consumed in a variety of ways. Tuna is the most well known and available fish in the USA and many other parts of the world due to it’s popularity as a canned product. Most of us grew up on tuna salad sandwiches and associate that experience with tuna as a meal.

Readers that have been lucky enough to enjoy fresh caught tuna know that there is quite a difference between a canned tuna salad sandwich and a fresh grilled tuna steak! Tuna is delicious grilled, blackened, or as sushi. Those of us that still love tuna salad can enjoy tuna from the can or use leftover grilled tuna to create a unique and delightful tuna salad with a unique flavor. Smoked fish lovers will be thrilled to know that tuna is excellent when smoked. The finished smoked product makes fish dips, salads or just eaten alone.

Wahoo

Wahoo are beautiful pelagic fish and are excellent table fare. Wahoo live in the open ocean and are common along much of the USA and Caribbean. Wahoo should be rinsed well and then the fillets can be removed from the body. The flanks can then be cut into steaks with the skin on or the entire sections can be skinned before cutting into steaks.Wahoo is delicious grilled, fried or smoked. Fresh wahoo are available in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Hawaii and other areas.

Mahi Mahi

Mahi Mahi, also known as dorado or dolphin fish are fast growing, pelagic fish. Mahi Mahi are among the most beautiful of all fish. The meat is mostly white with a high content of oil. Mahi Mahi is best grilled or smoked. Fresh Mahi Mahi is available in states such as Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Hawaii and others. Other areas of the country can enjoy this fish as a frozen product or fresh via overnight shipment.

Striped Bass

Cooks have a variety of favorites for cooking rockfish. Whole fillets of school sized fish or steaks of larger fish are delicious fried. Other choices for cooking striped bass include grilling, broiling, fish cakes and more.

For top quality striped bass or “rockfish” as table fare, it’s important to take care of the fish prior to cooking. The fish should be chilled on ice and laid out flat until cleaned. Once the fish is home, it can be rinsed thoroughly and filleted. Several cleaning methods exist and each angler learns their favorite style. The fish can be scaled and the skin left on, filleted and then skinned or the skin can be cut around the perimeter of the fish and pulled off with pliers. The skin-on version is nice when baking or grilling smaller fish. Skinning the fish before filleting has some advantages, the most important being speed. Filleting the fish and then cutting the skin off removes the most dark meat and leaves the highest quality portion, although some fish is lost in the process.

Black Sea Bass

Black Sea Bass are excellent table fare. The meat is firm, white and delicious. Sea Bass are superb fried, grilled, baked or broiled. Sea Bass are easily skinned and filleted. Black sea bass are common along the Atlantic coast from New York to North Carolina. They are best fresh. The fish do not freeze well.

Grouper

Grouper is among the most popular fish in the Southern USA. Grouper is a premium fish harvested from the Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic Ocean. While individual species have unique identifiable characteristics, they are commonly described as lean, white flesh fish with a taste and texture which is popular and distinct from many other white fish.

Tilapia

Tilapia have gone from being an obscure fish to one of the most popular fish in many cultures. Tilapia are the second most important group of farm raised fish in the world. Tilapia has been introduced in over 100 countries. Tilapia farming and consumption are rapidly increasing in the US. Tilapia are a good source of protein and is now the fifth most popular seafood consumed in the United States.

Catalogue Shopping For The Perfect Cookware For Your Kitchen

Are you in the market for cookware? Are you also a person who maintains a very full schedule — do you find yourself trying to juggle the demands of work and family? Have you essentially concluded that you simply do not have time to take up an extra activities, even something which might seem simple on the surface like looking for and finding the perfect cookware for your home kitchen.

If that is the case, all is not lost. There are options available to you that will permit you to purchase the type of cookware items that will best meet your needs — and you will not need to unnecessarily overload your own schedule in the process. One option that you will want to consider in your hunt for cookware when you are living life on a tight schedule is catalogue shopping for cookware for your kitchen.

When it comes to catalogue shopping for cookware, you do have a number of options available to you. For example, if you are interested in high end cookware products for your kitchen and for your home, there are now some wonderful merchants that market their wares through catalogues.

At the other end of the spectrum, if you are a person who wants to save money, if you are living on a more restrictive budget, there are now some excellent companies that sell a wide array of different cookware and kitchenware products via catalogues.

In addition to companies that market their wares exclusively through catalogues, many major retailers in the brick and mortar world now also market their own inventory of products through catalogues.

When shopping through catalogues, most companies now charge only a minimal fee for shipping and handling. Indeed, in some instances, if you purchase over a minimum amount of products, products that cost over a minimum amount of money, the catalogue vendor will charge you nothing additional for shipping and handling. In addition, most catalogue companies also provide you with a toll free number through which you can phone a catalogue merchant and order those cookware products that you desire at no additional charge to you.

Finally, catalogue shopping allows for you to purchase products with a guarantee. In other words, if you receive the product and are not satisfied with what you obtain when you receive the product, you can return the cookware purchased — the merchant paying the return shipping.

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