Replace Your Potato Salad With These 5 Unique Recipes

May 23, 2014 by greystar

Potato salad is a staple dish at any picnic, barbecue, or summer party, but after a while it can start to lose its charm. If you love potato salad but want to update your outdated recipe, these five creative versions offer the same great taste with some subtle changes.

Yellow Mustard Potato Salad [Food Network]
The zesty taste of yellow mustard, relish, and pimento gives a unique flavor to this thick, hearty potato salad.

German Potato Salad [Food Network]
Prepared just like the Germans make it, this potato salad uses a broth rather than a creamy sauce. Adding bacon and apple cider vinegar ensures that it’s anything but bland.

Dairy-Free Potato Salad [AllRecipes]
This one is ideal for vegans or those with milk sensitivities. Simply toss cubed red potatoes with spices and roast until they’re slightly browned for a potato salad with a vinaigrette-style dressing.

Texas Ranch Potato Salad [AllRecipes]
By incorporating the zesty tastes of ranch dressing and bacon, this potato salad takes on a whole new dimension of flavors. Plus it’s so hearty, this one eats more like an entree than a side dish.

No-Mayo Potato Salad [AllRecipes]
Cutting the mayo also cuts a great deal of calories for those trying to manage their weight, but it doesn’t take away any of the savory taste.

Public Domain/Public Domain

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Cooking, Food, Recipes, Side Dishes

Expecting Company? Try These 4 Simple, Elegant Appetizer Recipes

May 14, 2014 by greystar

Don’t get caught off guard the next time you have a last-minute gathering at home. With these convenient appetizer recipes, you can prepare beautiful and delicious hors d'oeuvres without taking time out of your busy schedule.

Bacon-Wrapped Apricots with Sage [Real Simple]
With such contrasting ingredients coming into play, this appetizer seems like it’s much more complicated than it is. All it takes is some apricots, crispy bacon, simple seasonings, and a few toothpicks to create a handheld appetizer.

Orange and Fennel Marinated Olives [Oprah]
No one hosts a party better than Oprah, and her sweet and savory marinated olives will have your guests asking for the recipe all night.

Endive with Ricotta, Almonds and Raisins [Real Simple]
Endives make an attractive vessel for eating the creamy ricotta in this simple appetizer, and the crunchy almonds and sweet raisins are just the icing on the cake.

Leek Tart [Martha Stewart]
A tart looks pretty and it’s easy for guests to eat, but most tarts are complicated and time-consuming to make. This one uses basic frozen dough and a few simple tricks to turn create a perfect tart crust.

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/Geoff Peters 604

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Appetizers, Cooking, Food, Recipes

There’s No Need to Knead With These 4 Bread Recipes

March 21, 2014 by greystar

Baking bread at home seems difficult, but no-knead recipes make it much easier than ever before. You’ll impress your family and your guests with the scent of freshly baked bread coming from the oven, and you’ll be the only one who knows just how easy it was to prepare.

No-Knead Bread [Steamy Kitchen]
This recipe creates a rustic, gourmet-looking loaf of bread, and it’s so simple that a four year old can make it— and one has! The New York Times made this no-knead recipe famous, but its reliability is what makes it so popular.

No-Knead Bread [Smitten Kitchen]
Using instant yeast to create a fluffy, dense center and a crispy outer crust, this incredible bread recipe is the perfect addition to any sandwich or evening meal.

No-Knead Crusty White Bread [King Arthur Flour]
If you want to make a large amount of bread for a gathering or holiday party, this is the recipe to use. It makes use of the same simple no-knead technique, but this recipe yields four full-sized loaves.

How to Make No-Knead Bread [The Kitchn]
This online tutorial will show you the most important steps for making no-knead bread, with detailed pictures along the way. It also includes video tutorials for certain techniques, such as shaping the dough into a perfect ball.

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/TheLizardQueen

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Baking, Bread, Cooking, Food

Healthy Seafood Recipes for Lunch or Dinner

March 20, 2014 by greystar

Many home chefs are often intimidated by preparing seafood, either because of its delicate texture or because they simply don’t know which types to buy. These tasty and nutritious recipes can take the guesswork out of cooking with fish, shrimp and other types of seafood.

Baja-Style Salmon Tacos
Unlike many restaurant tacos, this recipe adds up to just 325 calories and is packed with 24 grams of necessary protein. The grilled salmon and whole wheat tortillas give these Baja-style fish tacos a healthy makeover that’s still a flavorful treat.

Fish Veronique
A traditional dish with a healthy, modern twist, this recipe for Fish Veronique creates a comfort food that won’t break your diet. By removing the fat from the chicken broth and using low-fat milk, you can create a decadent, creamy sauce with none of the extra fat or calories.

Baked Red Snapper With Zesty Tomato Sauce
Create an elegant dinner for your family or your guests with this low-fat, low-calorie Italian fish dish. Use your choice of either red snapper or bass to find the taste you prefer, and top with zesty tomato sauce for major flavor.

For more nutritious meals using seafood, visit the NIH website here.

CC-BY-SA-2.0/Flickr/stu_spivack

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Cooking, Food, Nutrition, Recipes

Delicious Greens Recipes from Top Food Websites

February 28, 2014 by greystar

We should all eat more greens than we currently do, but it can be hard to squeeze in those extra veggies. These delightful sites from around the web will help you add a bit more green to your diet without sacrificing taste.

All Recipes
The Greens Recipes section of the All Recipes site is full of creative, healthy recipes that use leafy greens as the main ingredient. From cheese dips to spinach rolls to quiches and casseroles, these dishes are so decadent, you might even forget that they’re healthy. All Recipes also offers a number of recipes for preparing traditional Southern greens, which make a perfect side dish for your next fried chicken dinner.

Food.com
Visit Food.com to find an endless assortment of greens recipes that are both healthy and delicious. A Spinach Strawberry Salad makes a great summer lunch, and its seasonal fruits add a bit of color to the variety of greens. The site also features warm, hearty soups full of green veggies, from Tuscan White Bean & Spinach to Italian Sausage with Kale. With main courses, side dishes and even appetizers, Food.com is a great resource for cooking with greens.

Public Domain/Public Domain

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Cooking, Food, Greens, Recipes

Plan Family Meals with This Deliciously Healthy NIH Guide

December 18, 2013 by greystar

Many people have the best intentions when it comes to eating healthy, but have a difficult time planning to create their own healthful menus. The NIH knows that if healthy foods taste good, people are more likely to eat them, which is why they created the Deliciously Healthy Eating guide.

This NIH guide is an all-inclusive resource for discovering flavorful, healthful meals that are simple to create. It is packed full of nutritious, low-calorie recipes that taste just as good as unhealthy foods, from Oatmeal Pecan Waffles to Quick Beef Casseroles. Browse the website by food categories like beef, poultry, vegetables or pasta to find recipes using ingredients that you have on hand, or search by meals like breakfast, lunch and snacks to plan for every time of day.

The recipes are broken down by cook time and number of servings. They include nutrition facts like calories, total fat, cholesterol, sodium, and carbohydrates to make it simple to know what you're eating.

Deliciously Healthy Eating Guide [National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute]

Public Domain/Public Domain

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Cooking, Nutrition, Recipes, Reserve at Garden Oaks

Find Recipes Online with These Websites

December 6, 2013 by greystar

These days, finding and sharing recipes has become an online activity, with dozens of websites full of user submitted meals for lunch, dinner and even dessert. These helpful websites will help you with your own family’s meal planning, as well as connect you to other home chefs to trade tips and tricks.

All Recipes
All Recipes is one of the most popular online cooking resources, with an expansive recipe database for just about any meal or occasion. Search the archives by ingredient, watch video tutorials, view sample menus for the entire week, or even plan your holiday spread all on this simple, friendly website.

Epicurious
The ideal site for the passionate food lover, Epicurious is jam packed with creative, inspiring recipes in the form of traditional text, videos, and slideshows of mouth-watering photos. Epicurious also features a great online community where visitors can follow other members, post their favorite recipes, and discuss topics such as family meal solutions and home brewing techniques.

FoodNetwork.com
The beloved television cooking channel has a corresponding website, and fans of shows like The Barefoot Contessa are sure to love it. FoodNetwork.com features cooking tips from top chefs and hosts, 30-minute meal recipes, a quick recipe finder with filters for ingredients and prep time, and even a blog full of articles that foodies will find fascinating.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Cooking, Food, Nutrition, Recipes

Chicken: 10 Ways To Prepare A Classic

March 15, 2013 by greystar

Chicken. It's a staple on many dinner tables, but let's face it — chicken can be bland and boring. Here are some recipes The Kitchn collected, in case you need some great ideas for preparing chicken:

Bon appetit!

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Chicken, Cooking, Dinner, Food, Recipes