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Lately, I have fallen in love with induction cooking surfaces. After all, it is a new and exciting phenomenon. To ensure meals in under 60 minutes, Wolf appliances have introduced the induction cooking counter top that heats up food fast so you can practically cut 1/3 of your overall cooking time. For instance, to boil a quart of water with this surface, it takes less than 60 seconds when the cooking surface is still cool!

As far as scrumptious 60-minutes recipes, my top five are listed below:

Ravioli with Pasta Sauce

Savor the taste of ravioli dressed in a chunky flavor of pasta sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 package frozen cheese ravioli
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 jar chunky pasta sauce
• 1/4 cup milk, non-dairy creamer, evaporated milk, heavy cream, or half and half (optional)

Directions:

1. In a 12-inch non-stick skillet, bring ravioli, water and salt to a boil over high heat. Continue boiling, stirring gently for about 5 minutes.
2. Stir in pasta sauce and cook covered over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until ravioli are tender.
3. Stir in cream and heat through.

Tossed Pasta with Basil & Brie

This pungent pasta dish is covered in fresh basil and brie cheese. Served alone or paired with chicken.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh basil chopped
• 2 box angel hair spaghetti
• 2 carton grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 large slice brie cheese, cubed, without rines
• Ground black pepper
• Salt

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
2. Mix basil, tomatoes and cheese together until cheese starts to melts, stirring occasionally.
3. Service immediate with ground paper and salt to taste.

Continue Reading to find out the 5 Great Recipes

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Eating healthy and balanced diet provides you and your family with all the nutrients that your body need to sustain a whole day’s activity. Having a sound and peaceful mind is a positive reaction of eating healthy.

Here are pointers to have a healthy eating habit.

No skipping of meals

When you skip a meal, the tendency is you would eat more on your next meal or worst you will pick on the unhealthy foods available in fast food chains. You can pack your own meal if you plan on travelling or ask for help on where to buy healthy food.

Explore on the different healthy ways of cooking your food

Do not deep fry all of your foods. You can stew, grill, stir fry, bake or boil them sometimes. You can use different kinds of methods with just a single ingredient. When cooking meat, always bear in mind to trim all the fat and skin of the meat.

Prevent from consuming a lot of sugar

If you can not avoid from drinking or eating foods that has sugar content, be sure to take them in moderation. Everything should be in moderation. Drinks that have plenty of sugar content do not provide you with the energy that your body needs.

Do not think about going on a diet

All foods taken in balance are good. Eating a balanced meal does not require you to deprive yourself of the delicious and tasty foods around you. You can have all of these kinds of foods but should be in moderation. A nibble of this and that is one way of healthy eating. Substituting your foods with diet foods like diet and sugar free drinks will not give you lesser calories and less sugar intake but substituting them with more hazardous chemicals that are used to replace them.

In the UK it can be hard to find a good vegetarian restaurant and hotel so you can make your next outing or holiday cruelty free. Here we’ll detail some good places to plan around your next trip, they are vegan, vegetarian, or veggie friendly (still offers a traditional menu with a variety of veggie options) so you can enjoy yourself and not be stuck with drab tofu.

Northcote Manor Hotel, Restaurant, Cafe

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Northcote Manor in Lancashire is a vegetarian friendly restaurant and café with vegan options to satisfy any palate; the hotel also offers a gourmet vegetarian menu, in case you want to do something special. The head chef is the famous Lisa Allen, from the Great British Menu show, gives the menu the star treatment. Sauce Communications is a great PR firm for restaurants and hotels, and drives a lot of business to these kinds of businesses. Here you can find foods that are good for almost any allergy, and completely vegan; all for £40.

Michael House Hotel, B&B, Restaurant

Michael House is a vegetarian and vegan B&B. Located in scenic Cornwall, here you can find a nice place for holiday. Run by a friendly couple, it’s just down the road from Tintagel, the centre of the King Arthur Legends. With its friendly and welcoming atmosphere, and tasty vegan and vegetarian cuisine, you can’t go wrong with staying at Michael House. Please remember that the inside is completely nonsmoking.

Tin Tin Vegetarian (optional) Chinese Restaurant and Café

This veggie friendly restaurant and café has a large array of vegan options, with mock meats and something a little extra for when your meat eating friends can’t stand another tofu burger. It’s comfy confines are great for a dinner out for two, in Hampton Hill. There is a pub nearby where you can grab a drink before dinner. The restaurant is friendly and family run, but be sure to check out Mr. Big’s mock duck; it’s sure to turn a few heads, and a few mouths towards vegetarian cuisine.

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Are you one of those people that after getting up the next thing they want to do is drinking coffee? Welcome to the club then.

It was eighteen months ago that my coffee machine broke up and I had to deal with the no coffee idea. It was hard, still is so from time to time, after dropping the kids at school I stop in a coffee shop to drink a coffee. Other times I make instant coffee at home which by the way causes me a lot of internal problems.

Sometimes I think I could live without coffee but when an headache strikes, I need my coffee. I use coffee as a migraine headache treatment. Before taking any pain killers I always try coffee and most of the times it makes the trick. Why? Because caffeine make the brain veins to open and allow the blood to flow more easily. This was the explanation given to me when my son had migraines. I was told I could give him a small quantity of coffee to make the migraine go away.

Can you imagine your day without coffee? Does coffee do any good to your headaches?

From the acai berry to the cranberry, we are blessed with numerous superfruits to tantalise our taste buds and give us a healthy lift. What makes these fruit so special is the antioxidant content, which is supposed to fight against damaging particles in our bodies.

Super superfruits

Here are some of the superfruits we love:

• Acai berry
• Blueberry
• Cranberry
• Goji berry
• Grape
• Mango
• Pomegranate
• Apples
• Oranges
• Tomatoes
• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Blackberries

Any combination of these superfruits can taste amazing in fruit juice, but we think they are even more substantial as smoothies. It is up to you which fruits you mix together, and how you garnish it to serve.

Super superfruit smoothie

Here is one of our favourite superfruit smoothie recipes which has the advantage of the antioxidant content of both acai and blueberries:

Ingredients

• 1 peeled banana, cut in half
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat milk
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat vanilla yoghurt
• 100 gram packet frozen acai pulp
• 2 cups frozen blueberries
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup ice

Preparation

• 1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
• 2. Serve immediately

About acai

One of the ingredients used in the above recipe is the acai berry, pronounced ass-eye-ee. Aside from its superfruit status, acai is said to taste like a mix of berries and chocolate. Acai has been enjoyed in Brazil for many years, commonly appearing with granola as a simple source of nutrients. Luckily, the growth in popularity means that acai is now available to purchase here in various forms, including the frozen packets used in this recipe.

Photograph source: Green Kitchen Stories. (2010). Super fruit smoothie.

It’s time for a Healthy Recipe and again I’m going to post a dessert. I just love Tiramisu and I’ve been coming across some variations of the original Italian recipe. This one is absolutely delicious, it’s easy to make and you have to try it, after all it is a Healthy Recipe as well as Light Recipe.

Here we go:

Tiramisu Parfaits

Ingredients

• 4-1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 2 cups cold fat-free milk
• 2 packages (1 ounce each) sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 ounces fat-free cream cheese
• 1 package (3 ounces) ladyfingers, split and cubed
• 2 cups fat-free whipped topping
• 2 tablespoons miniature chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon baking cocoa

Directions

• Dissolve coffee in boiling water; cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. In another large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually fold in pudding.
• Place ladyfinger cubes in a bowl; add coffee; toss to coat. Let stand for 5 minutes.
• Divide half of the ladyfinger cubes among six parfait glasses or serving dishes. Top with half of the pudding mixture, 1 cup whipped topping and 1 tablespoon chocolate chips. Repeat layers.
• Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Just before serving, dust with cocoa.

Yield: 6 servings.

Recipe and Photo Source: Taste Of Home

Here is a screenshot of my laundry room where I also have some shelves with groceries and related items.

On our journey to save money, we take advantage of all the discounts we get to bring home extra products we need. When we get a 50% discount for instance, instead of buying 3 packs of cereals we buy 6 or more and store them on these shelves for future use. On another cabinet I have one item of each of those in the photo for daily use.

Today I went to the supermarket to get some bread and I notice that a new 50% discount promotion is taking place there. From cleaning products to the best eye cream, from wine to milk. Yes, milk is with a 50% discount and, once we drink so much milk at home, I’m going to take advantage of this promotion and buy some extra packages.

Of course we have to take a close look to expire dates and on this milk case, the expire date is September 2010 so no problem getting a lot of them and store them at home.

Do you have a grocery storage plan?

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