The Greatest Caribbean Recipes

If you are bored enough already with what you get to eat everyday but do not have time to go on a lengthy Caribbean vacation then you can bring the beaches and the sunshine right into your home through your kitchen using a Caribbean recipe.

A Caribbean recipe is more than just a way or preparing some bit of food. Due to the heavy influence of several cultures throughout the Caribbeans history, the Caribbean cuisine is a mix of several cooking styles from all over the world while retaining at its heart the original culinary skills of the island's native inhabitants. So if you are bored enough already with the boring foods that you get to eat everyday but do not have time to go on a lengthy and expensive Caribbean vacation then you can bring the beaches and the sunshine right into your home through the use of your kitchen using this fantastic and delicious Caribbean recipe which serves four people and can be eaten by all the family. Treat your family with this excellent recipe.

Most western fish recipes include some butter and some lemon. Well, it is time to get a little more elaborate than that and go ahead with all kinds of flavor and spice additions that will give your taste buds something to think about for a few days. A Caribbean recipe is not only healthy but it is also a bit spicy and of course, it is as delicious as the Caribbean is beautiful.

So here is a simple and easy to prepare recipe that should get you started on Caribbean food as tourists like to praise after they come back from the island paradise.

Ingredients:

4 tilapia fillets
2 tablespoon low-fat margarine
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
4 tablespoon chopped onion
1/4 cup toasted and chopped almonds
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/4 teaspoon oregano
4 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon chopped coriander or parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cup water
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 lime peel

Preparation

Melt the margarine in a hot skillet on medium heat. Be careful to not let the butter turn brown.
Add green pepper and 2 tablespoons of onion. Saute the pepper and onions until the onion is transparent.
Add almonds, bread crumbs, oregano, 1 tablespoon of fresh limejuice, coriander, and salt. Mix everything well.

Spoon the filling down the center of the tilapia fillets. Roll up both the fillets and secure them with toothpicks.

Take a shallow baking pan. Use the 2 table spoons of onion, water, garlic, bay leaf, red pepper, and 3 tablespoons of lime juice.

Add the 2 fillets and bake at 400 F in the oven for 30-35 minutes with occasional basting until the fillets flake easily.

Remove the tilapia fillets to a serving platter and garnish with strips of lime peel.

This preparation can serve four people.

About the Author:
James Penn runs a highly informative Caribbean website which details exactly how to find Caribbean beach resorts and also the ten best activities in the Caribbean for families and couples alike.
Submitted on 2006-11-13
Article Source: http://www.articlesarea.com/

Free Yourself in the Kitchen

Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge. Freedom comes from letting go of what you think you know to be true. Over the years I see that many people do not wish to cook versus those that enjoy it. One of the biggest differences is how one holds the idea of cooking. Do you think of it as a necessary chore? Something you do, just because your family must eat? Something you avoid because it is like work. You might like the cooking and loathe the cleaning up enough to avoid it all together? You think other things are more important so you usually run out of time and just need to grab food from wherever you can? What are your reasons for not cooking or incorporating cooking and planning food into your daily life? I find that some of my own reasons for making cooking a part of my day are: 1. I feel much better eating clean, healthy, fresh food that I've made myself. 2. I have control over what goes into the food so I have control over how the food affects my well being. I can create better energy, beauty, vitality, moods, etc. from getting to choose exactly what goes into my food. 3. Making food is like an arts and crafts project that I enjoy. 4. I can share the results and people like to enjoy the food, often giving me a lot of positive reinforcement to keep up my arts and crafts experiments. 5. I feel good about myself for both the cooking easily, and then also for the cleaning up and making the space feel good. 6. The whole process can be relaxing like a meditation when I allow it to be. 7. Sometimes I use clean up as a time to enjoy some music. My top priority is that I value looking and feeling great and cooking food at home is one of the best ways to support that. I encourage you to find reasons that support you to incorporate a bit of cooking into your day. If you would like skills and tools on how to fit in making food when you have a busy full schedule or how to make food fast and simply, then just schedule a session at www.SusanMarque.com. The success journal is also available and has wonderful tools for creating your body and life the way you would like it to be.

About the Author:
Susan Marque is a dynamic food coach. With phone coaching, seminars and classes she has been sharing her whole foods approach to health since 1997. Her distinctions have helped people with easy weight loss that stays off, creating more vitality and energy, clearing ailments, looking younger and feeling better on every level. Susan has written four Fast and Easy Cookbooks, and co-created the Beyond Weight Loss™ seminars. Susan is certified in NL
Submitted: 2006-10-23
Article Source: GoArticles

Turkey Gravy Secrets Revealed

To make the best tasting turkey gravy you need three things; well-seasoned fat, flour, and a good rich broth. For each cup of finished gravy you will need one tablespoon of fat, one tablespoon of flour and 1 cup of broth.

Start by making up some rich turkey broth. You can use the turkey neck, heart, gizzard or other parts usually found packed inside the turkey cavity. Add some minced onion, diced celery and 1/2 teaspoon salt in enough water to cover, simmer until vegetables are tender. Dice the turkey liver, add to the broth and simmer for about 15 minutes.

You can use the turkey bones if you like. The turkey bones yield much more broth, just add more onions and celery to the pan. You will have to carve the turkey ahead of time, which means no whole roasted turkey sitting on the dinner table waiting to be carved by the host or hostess.

Make sure you use the drippings from the roasting pan, as grandpa always said "that's the goodies", just after you've removed the cooked turkey and roasting rack from the roasting pan. Strain poultry drippings through a sieve into a 4-cup glass measuring cup.

Add 3 tablespoons of corn oil to the bottom of the roasting pan. Stir around to get out the brown bits that have baked on. Add to your turkey drippings. "Wash" the roasting pan out with the turkey broth if it's made or add water your going to use in the broth if you haven't made it yet.

The trick is to know how many cups of broth you have and if you have enough fat. Remember you will need one tablespoon of fat, one tablespoon of flour and 1 cup of broth for each cup of finished gravy.

If you are light on broth you can add some canned chicken broth.
If you are light on fat you can add a small amount of corn oil. You can save the rest of your broth for storing and reheating the turkey.

Here are a few more tips to making great tasting gravy:

First take the measured fat and combine with the proper amount of measured flour in a medium saucepan. Make sure you have covered all the flour with fat and blended it well. Place on burner. Slowly bring the flour and fat mixture to a simmer until it begins to smell slightly salty. It will be bubbly; the color will be a light brown.

Next remove pan from burner; whisk in all the measured liquids.

Finally return the pan to the burner, again, slowly bring this to a simmer.

Remember you already cooked the flour in the fat so all you need to do now is stir this until it thickens up to your liking. You can let it stay sort of thin or let it cook out until it is thicker than your Mashed potatoes. The choice is yours.

About the Author:
Frank Flohr (aka Chef Phronc) is passionate about cooking and is a self proclaimed "Chef". Frank serves up a full plater of cooking tips, free recipes, resources and culimary information at ChefPhroc's Whats Cooken Unleash the hidden "Chef" inside you!
Article Source: http://www.articles411.com

Barbeque and Grilling Blunders | Learn to Eliminate Outdoor Cooking Mistakes that Kill Your Cookout

We all make grilling and barbeque cooking mistakes. Sometimes we don't even know what they are until we realize that the barbequed and grilled food you cook is not as good as you've had elsewhere. Make a mental note of these outdoor cooking tips and get in the outdoor cooking game.

Your average backyard cook is no expert in the barbeque or grilling field. He has no television shows on the Food Network. He has no grilling cookbooks out. Nor has any of those been part of his lifetime goal.

No, your average outdoor cooking enthusiast makes more mistakes with bbq grilling than you could ever imagine. The meat ends up dry and tough time after time, despite marinating for hours. Or the meat is burnt or cooked too long.

These mistakes are made time and time again because your average backyard cook usually does not know any different.

Here are some of the more common mistakes and do's and don'ts made in bbq grill cooking:

1) If you started with frozen meat, make sure the meat is thawed completely. Trying to cook the inside of a still-frozen piece of meat is next to impossible without burning the outside.

2) When using a charcoal grill, try to start the fire without charcoal lighter fluid. Lighter fluid taste will always get into your meat no matter how much you cook the coals down first. A chimney starter makes starting the fire a breeze. It also allows you to add charcoal along the way should should the coals burn out along the way.

3) Never poke the bbq meat with a fork after cooking has begun. This is one of the most common mistakes and one of the most deadly for your barbeque. When poking with a fork, the juices will run out of the meat and right into the bottom of the barbeque pit or grill. Your meat will be dry and less tender. Use a long set of tongs to turn the meat.

4) Lower the heat. Except for steaks, that need a quick searing, cook slow over low to medium heat. Lower heat is much more manageable and it will make the meat tender and juicy.

5) Quit lifting the lid to check the meat. Every time you do that it changes the temperature inside the bbq grill or pit. Air from you opening the lid acts like a sponge and dries the meat up. Opening the lid also increases your chances of flare-ups.

6) This is more of a food safety mistake. Do not put the cooked meat back on the same plate or platter that the raw meat was on without washing it first. Mixing the cooked with the raw just begs for someone to get sick.

Of course, these are not all of the mistakes made by the amateur outdoor cook, but are some of the more common. But if you will prevent doing these yourself, you will eliminate many of the things that cause barbeque failures.

Your guests and family will wonder how come your grilled or barbequed food is so much better then it used to be. And, who knows?...Maybe the Food Network will come looking for you.

About the Author:
Billy Bristol is an outdoor barbeque and grill cooking fanatic from Texas. He is the editor of http://www.TexasBarbeques.com, a website devoted to outdoor cooking and patio design ideas.
There are free recipes and outdoor cooking tips and techniques that everyone can use, as well as free outdoor building plans and designs that will turn your backyard into a second home or another living space.
Billy is not a professional barbeque chef, and is not immune to mistakes in outdoor cooking. But he believes learning and correcting the mistakes for the next backyard experience is key to great outdoor living success.
This article was posted on February 23, 2006
Article Source: articlecity