Valentine Cooking Desserts(Chocolate)

Posted by admin | Gourmet | Monday 2 February 2009 5:40 am

Valentine Desserts: Delicious Desserts for Valentine’s Day Dinners

Executive Summary About Valentine Desserts : By Elizabeth Martyn

Valentine Cooking Desserts(Chocolate)
Pick a simple but delectable Valentine Day dessert recipe to add the finishing touch to your Valentine dinner. Any pink or red fruit is ideal, such as strawberries, raspberries or rhubarb. Tropical fruits are also an excellent choice, and for the simplest dessert of all, you could simply serve a platter of sliced fruits such as juicy mango, halved passion fruits , fresh pineapple chunks and papaya wedges.

Here are more ideas for Valentine’s Day desserts.
1. Make it pink
Chop 450g (12 oz) fruit and simmer covered for 10 min in a pan with 50ml (4 tbsp) fresh orange juice , 1 cinnamon stick and 25g (5 tsp) caster sugar, until the rhubarb is tender. Remove the lid and cook for another 5 mins until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly and leave to cool. Fold the fruit through 150ml (2/3 cup) 0% fat Greek yogurt, spoon into glasses and chill for 2 hr.

2. Just add chocolate
Prepare a plate of mixed fruit cut into bite-sized pieces. Put 200g (1 ½ cups) dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl and add 50g (1/4 cup) butter, 75ml (1/3 cup) water and 2 tbsp Malibu or brandy. Place over a pan of barely simmering water, so the base of the bowl is just above the surface of the water. Stir occasionally until melted, then stir until smooth.

3. Celebration sorbet
Put 600ml (2 ½ cups) apple and mango juice into a pan with the zest of a lemon and 75g caster sugar. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil, simmer for 1 min, then pour into a bowl to cool. Strain into a container and place in the freezer for about 4 hours. Remove from freezer and whisk well to break up the ice crystals, then freeze until firm

4. Heart-shaped delights
Any dessert can become a Valentine dessert, if you add a heart-shaped decoration. Place the card with the heart-shaped hole on top of a cake or pile of pancakes, and dredge with icing sugar. Lift off stencil carefully.


Homemade Valentines Day Candy

Executive Summary About Valentine Candy : By Angela Billings

You can get a pretty box for the candy and some mini cupcake holders to put each piece of candy in.
Find a candy recipe for your loved ones favorite candy or try one of these:

Chocolate Truffles
1 1/2 (12 oz) bag of sweet chocolate
1 - 15 oz sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
grated chocolate
Melt chocolate in double boiler or however you prefer. Remove from stove and cool. When cool use butter on your fingers and take about 1 teaspoon of mixture and roll into balls and coat with grated chocolate.
Peanut Butter Balls
1 cup butter
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
6 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
Melt butter and stir in the peanut butter, add powdered sugar and mix until smooth and then roll into balls (If you need to you can add more powdered sugar to make them stiff enough to roll)
Melt the chocolate chips and then dip the balls into the chocolate and put on a plate to cool.

Gourmet Cooking Made Easy: Holiday Party Ideas

Posted by admin | Gourmet | Monday 12 January 2009 8:28 am


Gourmet Cooking Made Easy: Holiday Party Ideas


Courtesy of ARA Content
gourmet cooking
(ARA) - More entertaining takes place during the holidays than all the rest of the year put together. Relatives come to visit, friends and neighbors drop by unexpectedly — this time of year you have to be prepared for a party on short notice.

But with all the other things going on during the season, it’s hard to find the time to cook something nice for your guests. How can you put together a gourmet menu at the last minute?

You don’t have to be a gourmet chef to cook like one, says Jill Blashack, president and CEO of Tastefully Simple, an easy-to-prepare gourmet foods company. I don’t have time to cook, and many other people are in the same position.

The following are some tips from the experts at Tastefully Simple on how to be prepared at short notice for any kind of gathering this season:

* Archive good recipes. From time to time you run across a recipe that would be great for entertaining: a quick and easy soup, an interesting hors d’oeuvre, a good mulled cider mixture. Keep an active file of the ones you want to try so they are ready for you when you need them. This way you won’t have to scramble when you need to find something to make at the last minute.

* Keep important staples on hand at all times. There are certain items that your pantry shouldn’t be without during the holidays: a variety of crackers, chips and mixed nuts; cream cheese for a cheese ball; sour cream for an easy dip; some fresh spices such as ginger, cinnamon and cloves for mulling and condiments such as mayonnaise, mustard, preserves and chutney. It’s also a good idea to have a selection of beer, wine and soft drinks available.

* Stock some items that can be ready to serve quickly. Even if you don’t like to cook, you’ll be able to whip together a menu that will impress your friends and relatives with the help of a few Tastefully Simple products. Each one is either ready to serve, or can be prepared by adding just one or two additional ingredients.

Ensure your gathering will be a success with these simple, savory dips:

Tastefully Simple Spinach & Herb Mix, Garlic Garlic and Bacon Bacon Mixes

1 1/2 cups sour cream

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

3 large red or green bell peppers

Tastefully Simple Bountiful Beer Bread Mix

12 ounce beer (or any carbonated beverage)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

Prepare all three dip mixes with sour cream and mayonnaise as directed on packaging; chill in separate bowls for 2 hours. Prepare Bountiful Beer Bread Mix with beer and butter as directed on package; cool and cube. Carefully slice tops off bell peppers, seed, core; reserve lids. Fill each pepper with one of the prepared dips. Place filled peppers next to lids on lettuce-leaf-lined plate; serve alongside basket of Bountiful Beer Bread cubes for dipping. Makes 3 cups dip.

You can find hundreds of recipes and find out how to get Tastefully Simple products by visiting www.tastefullysimple.com.

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Courtesy of ARA Content