Kitchen Treasures for Healthy and Beautiful Skin

Vegetable and spices are necessary in our kitchen. They play a vital part in our diet and nutrition. Now, you can even make your own beauty regimen out of those veggies and spices in your kitchen.

I listed some commonly known veggies and spices that can help in the maintenance of healthy and beautiful skin.

Almond- almond oil is good for treating dry skin and removing scars of old pimples and zits. Pour hot water on the almonds and allow them to soak until the skin comes off. Dry them and grind them into a powder. Keep this in a jar. Daily add a little milk to some of the powder and use the paste to cleanse the face by rubbing the skin gently with it. Almond powder can also be added to face packs.

Cabbage- is rich in vitamin and minerals. The water used in boiling cabbage can be used to rinse the face after washing.

Carrots- smashed carrot pulp makes good face packs.

Garlic- raw garlic is known to treat persistent pimples.

Oats- Oats are also highly absorptive, hypoallergenic, and help to soften skin. They have the best amino acid balance of all the cereal grains. Oats have also been clinically shown to help heal dry, itchy skin. The edible grains of a widely grown cereal grass, oats (avena sativa) appear in many beauty products. People appreciate their soothing, anti-inflammatory properties. Come to think of it, that's another childhood memory. When I got the chicken pox my mom popped me into an oatmeal and baking soda bath to relieve the itching. They have the best amino acid balance of all the cereal grains (amino acids work as water-binding agents in skin care products). Oats have also been clinically shown to help heal dry, itchy skin. Oat grains and straw appear in shampoos, dusting powders, moisturizers, and cleansing bars and that's just the start of a list!

Potatoes- apply grated potato as poultice to treat skin blemishes, pimples, boils, whiteheads and blackheads.

Radish- paste made from ground radish seeds is effective in removing blackheads. Grated white radish juice is used as a skin whitener.

Rice- paste made from rice powder is used as poultice to sooth bleeding pimples and other skin inflammations.

Sandalwood- sandalwood is known to treat pimples.

Tomato- red tomato pulps can be used to treat pimples. Good tomatoes are an abundant source of vitamins A, B (including folic acid), and C; potassium and magnesium; and valuable antioxidants and trace elements.

Turmeric- paste made from turmeric powder can be used to treat remove wrinkles, dark circles under the eyes, minor skin blemishes as well as prevent skin aging.

So there next time you go to your kitchen, look closely at your veggies and spices. Remember that your kitchen is a haven of natural beauty products that can actually save your skin.

About the Author:
Celeste Ashley
For more info on state-of-the-art acne treatments please click HERE
Submitted: 2006-10-19
Article Source: GoArticles

The Evolution Of Pizza

Trying to trace the history of the first pizza is a surprisingly controversial subject. Some claim that this popular food is based on early unleavened breads served in the early centuries in Rome. Others trace a connection from modern pizza back to the pita breads of Greece.

It's fairly well established that the first pizza as we know it today was created by a man named Raffaele Esposito from Naples, Italy. Esposito's creation was designed to honor the visit of Queen Margherita to Naples in 1889, and he decorated it with the colors of the Italian flag, using white cheese, green basil, and red tomatoes (tomatoes, which had arrived from the west about 60 years earlier, were originally thought to be poisonous, but by Esposito's time they were already embraced by Italian cuisine).

As the years passed and the turn of the century came about, Italian immigrants brought this recipe with them to America. The first pizzeria was opened in America in 1905. It remained popular almost exclusively among immigrants until the end of World War II, when American soldiers returned to their home soil and brought back a love of the pizza they had discovered overseas. With that, the pizza boom in America began and this food became a mainstream meal instead of an underground Italian snack.

The concentration of Italian immigrants in New York in those olden days explains the fact that many people feel you must visit New York to get true pizzeria-style pizza. It's where the pizza got its American start, after all. And nobody who has experienced New York style pizza can disagree. New York is famous for its pizzerias, where a true slice of pizza consists of a thin, wide crust loaded with plenty of toppings and marinara and smothered in heady Italian seasonings. A side of garlic bread and some heady pastas and tortellinis usually round out the menu. Pizzerias in New York are not for the faint of heart.

In the early 1940s, the city of Chicago, IL took pizza in a different direction. It is believed that the first pizzeria in Chicago was Pizzeria Uno, opened in 1943 by Ike Sewell. Sewell's pizza creation was a new twist on the old New York standard. He created what is known today as deep-dish pizza, where the pizza is sunk low into a deeper pan, and the crust is allowed to rise in thick bubbles around the edges. People flocked to Sewell's pizzeria, and a whole new way of looking at this favorite food was born.

To this day you can find yourself in some pretty heated debates if you argue with a New Yorker or a Chicagoan about what constitutes authentic pizzeria-style pizza. But whatever crust style you choose, pizza is a unique food with a foggy past and a definite appeal that has lasted through many incarnations.

So you're lucky enough to find yourself in New York or Chicago, or any city for that matter that has a true pizzeria, complete with checked tablecloths and plenty of garlic on the menu, indulge yourself in an old tradition and order a slice. After all, its tradition.

About the author:
Kirsten Hawkins is a food and nutrition expert specializing the Mexican, Chinese, and Italian food. Visit http://www.food-and-nutrition.com/ for more information on cooking delicious and healthy meals.
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Cooking Tips To Help You In The Kitchen

When you are cooking a meal, there are many things that can go wrong and many simple, household solutions to issues that arise that you may not know. To that end, we've written this article to discuss some simple hints that can make your time spent in the kitchen much easier.

- Did you burn food, and now the whole house smells of the terrible burning odor? Well, don't fret – there is a simple fix. Simply take a half of a cup of whole cloves and put them in a saucepan with two cups of water. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for twenty to thirty minutes. The house will now smell sweet due to this mixture.

- Flare-ups on the grill can be worrisome and dangerous. For that reason, it is important to minimize the risk of flare-ups while grilling. Any excess fat on cuts of meat that you are about to cook should be removed. Also, if you bring food to room temperature before placing it on the grill, you're more likely to cook it evenly.

- Need to check your grills temperature, but you don't have the feature on your grill? One simple test that you can perform is to hold your hand facing palms-down over the coals, roughly around where you will be cooking. You should count how long you can stand to keep your hand there as it will give you a rough estimation of the temperature. If you can only count to about two, the heat level is high, and it's best for cooking meat. If you're looking to grill vegetables, you should cook with a medium heat. If you can count to about four, the grill is the proper temperature. Be sure to keep it safe when you are performing this test.

- When baking cookies, it's tough to get them to turn out exactly round. There is an easy solution, however: after creating the dough, place it into empty concentrated juice cans and put it in the refrigerator. When you're ready to bake, just slice off the end of the can and push the dough through, slicing off cookies as you go. They should be perfectly round!

- Need to make your own croutons fast? There's an easy way to do it, and you probably have all the ingredients in your house! Cut slices of bread into cubes that are three quarters of an inch. Place them on a baking tray and add cooking spray and garlic powder. Broil the tray for roughly three minutes, and there you go! Try adding different spices to suit your individual fancy.

About the Author:
Kadence Buchanan writes articles on many topics including Women, Beauty, and Women’s Health
Posted: 24-09-2006
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

Chicken Alfredo

A versatile chicken dish for any occasion!

Chicken Alfredo can be made either from scratch, or from a can. The canned version is easier than from scratch, which allows more time to make side dishes and other mealtime delights, but it is not nearly as delicious as alfredo made from scratch. Both methods are included in this recipe.

A white sauce is used over chicken and noodles for the main alfredo dish. The flavour is very rich and cheesy. Almost any vegetable can be served without harming the flavour, or seeming out of place. Use this versatility to your advantage. Don't if you have all the fixings for a great side dish, or are planning to attend a potluck, making alfredo as a main dish is a near-guarantee of a good meal!

Alfredo is just as versatile with drinks as it is with side dishes. Any choice you make will fit the meal, so long as it matches whatever side dish you have selected. If the sauce is particularly sharp and cheesy, a red wine may be necessary to keep up with the flavour.

Ingredients:
Sauce - Canned:
1 can of alfredo sauce.

Sauce - Scratch:
2 c. whipping cream
1 c. fresh parmesean cheese, powdered.

Pasta:
2 chicken breasts, sliced to strips one half inch wide by two inches long.
2 c. pasta noodles
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 fresh lime, halved

Instructions:
(If you are using canned sauce, skip steps 2 and 6. Simply heat the sauce in a pan.)
1. Bring 6 cups of water to a rolling boil and pour in the noodles.
2. Bring the whipping cream to a simmer in a sauce pan over med-low heat. (stirring often!)
3. Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat.
4. Place the chicken in olive oil and squeeze one lime half over the pan.
5. Flip the chicken after two-three minutes, and squeeze the other lime over it.
6. Wait until the whipping cream has simmered for five minutes and slowly add all of the cheese, continuing to stir.
7. Remove the chicken from the stove.
8. After the cheese and cream has integrated, add the chicken.
9. Remove the sauce from the stove.

Steps 2-8 should take about ten minutes. After the chicken and sauce is prepared, wait five minutes for noodles to finish cooking. Serve as pasta, with the sauce and chicken over the noodles.

An aesthetic appeal can be added to the meal by sprinkling basil over the pasta, or by including a couple green onions as a garnish.

About the Author:
John
AceCooking AceRecipes SimpleCooking SpecialRecipes AllCooking
Submitted on 2006-11-05
Article Source: http://www.articlesarea.com/