Jamie's America

The incredible diversity in American cooking was a real revelation to me. So although I went looking for "quintessential American food," my conclusion is that there is no such thing; instead there's a huge wealth of seriously exciting dishes.

Many of us outside of America may think we already know all there is to know about it from movies or the occasional holiday, but the truth is that this doesn't even scratch the surface. In many ways, the country is still a bit of a mystery to us. This trip was my chance to explore the ingredients, food culture, and traditions within this incredible country.

I felt that I knew cities like New York and Los Angeles pretty well, but this time I ventured beyond the neighborhoods I was familiar with and into areas better known for their immigrant communities. I was rewarded with some of the most incredible food I've ever tasted.

The story was the same when I moved beyond the big cities. Whether it was Creole cooking in Louisiana or soul food in Georgia, the Mexican influences in Arizona or the hearty cowboy cuisine of Big Sky Country, every place I went had its unique treasures.

I came back with more recipes than I knew what to do with, and although it was tough, I managed to narrow this book down to 120 of my absolute favorites. These are my takes on some of the best food I came across, as well as a few things I made up along the way. I hope you enjoy them, and maybe even discover new and inspiring sides to America you've never seen before. Enjoy!

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Jamie Oliver's Salty Truth

The recent headlines covered news on our very own celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who is known for tackling bad British diets in schools. However, it came as no surprise to many nutritionists and dietitians that due to commercial aspects led to the production of one of the potentially saltiest pasta sauces in Great Britain.

The spokes person for Jamie Oliver claimed that although the team was working hard to create a recipe with lower salt levels it seemed difficult to find a tasty but less salty alternative hence the businessman Jamie Oliver has agreed to stick to the production of the salty version for the time being to avoid income losses. It's a pity that even someone like Jamie Oliver puts his brand onto sauces which have such high levels of salt that even eating 10 packets of Walkers crisps does not total up to the same amount of salt. A particular type of the pasta sauces branded Jamie Oliver sold at Sainsbury's contains as much as 5.3g salt per jar.

The current recommendation by the Food Standards Agency is 6g salt per day for adults. The recommended portion on the label (of 175g of olive and garlic sauce) would contain 5.3g salt and would contribute nearly to an adult's daily salt intake, without even adding pasta which surely contains some more salt. Although a new recipe for Jamie's sauces is about to get into Sainsbury's stores by December or January the high salt content was pointed out to the producers already about a year ago. Despite knowing, the product will still go on sale which could be very bad for people with high blood pressure and this act can only be understood as a commercial decision.

The Food Standards Agency estimates that about 75% of our daily salt intake comes from processed food such as bread, cereals, sauces, pickles, sausages and meat, snack foods such as nuts, crisps and crackers and foods eaten out. Therefore checking and comparing the label can truly make a difference to a person's salt intake.

The very high salt content in Jamie's sauces are especially appalling to everyone who knows that high salt diets are associated with high blood pressure and can lead to heart disease and stroke. The Food Standards Agency estimated lowering average salt intake from 10g per day (in 2006) to 6g per day could save around 17, 500 lives in the UK yearly.

After years of campaigning by the Foods Standards Agency the average salt intake in the UK has already dropped to 8.3g per day, this is mainly due to large scale reformulation of processed foods such as cereals, breads, sauces etc. but potentially also to awareness campaigns, reducing the amount of salt added into cooking at home and on the table. However there is still a long way to go and many people are still consuming large amounts of salt.

5 tips - how to prevent high salt intakes?

* Check the labels of bread, cereals, sauces (e.g. soy sauce, pesto), pickles, tinned vegetables such as baked beans that contain less salt than others, and try to choose the low salt option.

* Swap salty snacks like crisps, popcorn, crackers to healthier versions such as vegetable sticks, ryvita or oat crackers, rice cakes etc.

* Aim not to eat smoked foods such as smoked bacon, ham and cheese too often as they contain high amounts of salt.

* Avoid adding salt on foods on the table and while cooking try to use fresh or dried herbs and other seasoning such as garlic, ginger, lime juice and chilli as many of these ingredients consist of health promoting effects and add flavour to most dishes.

* When eating out choose tomato based sauce above creamy sauces which are often high in salt. Avoid soy based dishes and stir fried rice as they are commonly higher in salt. If possible ask for olive oil or salt free butter with your bread.

Andrea Zick, Esteem Fitness Nutritionist London - http://www.esteemfitness.com

Jamie Oliver in Oliver's Twist 2

JAMIE OLIVER - OLIVER'S TWIST 2

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Obesity in Children - What Are We Doing To Our Kids?

The distressing rise in obesity in children is an indictment on the way in which we live in modern times. Children are dependents, reliant upon the adult world to develop them into healthy grown up human beings, both physically and mentally.

I have written so many articles about children, the welfare of children, the health of children, the emotions of children, and the generalities of making kids happy, not scared of life and unable to cope with the way they themselves must live in our adult world.

Sometimes I want to get hold of errant parents by the scruff of their necks and shake them until their teeth rattle, when I see nice, balanced and receptive kids being damaged by moronic men and women who should be taken out and shot when it comes to child care.

Many of the problems of diet in our children arise from the parents inabilities in the kitchen, it is true. Admittedly modern life makes few allowances for spending several hours in the kitchen in the evenings and over weekends, especially if both parents are working.

Unfortunately, school meals are not always up to standard in terms of efficient nourishment as TV Chef Jamie Oliver recently proved. However, school dinners in the United Kingdom have recently undergone a change following Jamie Oliver's crusade for healthy menus for children and well done to him.

It is widely accepted nowadays that children who eat healthily find it easier to concentrate during lessons retain information throughout the school day. It is important, then, that this climate of healthy eating is continued at home.

The problem is that so many parents cannot cook for themselves, let alone for a hungry family. The result is that very few fresh ingredients find their way into our children's digestive systems, and very few proper nutrients. Well, sorry folks, but you are just going to have to learn some new skills if you want to raise healthy kids.

Processed foods are more popular now than ever before for obvious reasons, but there is no reason why our children should suffer as a result of their parent's busy lifestyles. Any fool can boil broccoli and other fresh vegetables, so try it. Also, try serving your child nice tasty salads with their burgers and fries, and then gently ease off on the fries if your kid is already a grease addict.

Children need carbohydrates and fats to grow healthily. There is no need to cut out bread, potatoes etc for a child, just encourage them to eat fresh vegetables along with the stodge. A little exercise each day is imperative for kids who are eating high calorie menus, so get them out walking the dog if they have a dislike for sport at school. In fact, go with them if you can.

Try learning to make simple one pot meals. Some of the recipes widely available on the web nowadays are free to download and easy to do. Kids love to get involved, so try to recruit their interest in the kitchen and lessen their access to potato chips and sweet stuff like chocolate gradually.

Above all, do it all cheerfully, and never introduce new foods with even a hint of criticism like a punishment, because no child likes to be pushed onto new food and certainly not because they are overweight. Take it all lightly but in a determined way and you will find the child responds favourably.

Jan Gamm writes reflections on life with an emphasis on world travel. She has lived in many countries and traveled extensively in the Far East, the Middle East, America, South America and throughout the South Pacific. She writes for fun and for money whenever she can manage it.

Jamie Does Stockholm - Swedish Chef Or Real Muppet?

Jamie Does Stockholm is a bit of a break away from the rest of the Jamie Does television series as all the other places visited are in or near the Mediterranean. (Athens, Morocco, France, Italy and Spain). This shows in the change in cooking style and approach compared with the other programmes. Jamie does Stockholm is just as good as the rest of the Jamie series though. I do know that some people do not like Jamie's style but the Muppet bit is to my mind not justified.

The long hard winters in Sweden mean that they are some of the best preservers in the world with a wonderful array of pickles, delicate preserved fish such as gravadlax (and not so delicate such as the stinky herring) and, smoked meat and fish. All this is nicely reflected in the TV programme. Once again Jamie's enthusiasm for food and cooking comes through in abundance.

I was particularly interested in the gravadlax salmon. i have done this dish myself on several occasions but the addition of beetroot and horseradish was an interesting twist. The vibrant colour certainly added to the overall affect of the dish and I will certainly give this a try, particularly as we grow our own beetroot and horseradish. This is just one of the fish recipes featured because like Venice (Stockholm is sometimes called the Venice of the North) the proximity of the sea means an abundance of fresh seafood is available.

Simple dishes such as creamy mushrooms also feature, a quick to prepare and delicious snack, and of course there has to be a recipe for Swedish meatballs.

The accompanying book of course features all the recipes in the television programme and like the pro grammes gives a fascinating travelogue of the region and its cuisine. As a photographer myself I loved the images captured in the book as in all of Jamie Oliver's books they are beautifully done.

I can thoroughly recommend the book Jamie Does as a great read for anyone interested in cookery and travel and as a source of some great recipes.

A further Jamie Does Review of the book is Here

Jamie's Italy

Bestselling author Jamie Oliver finally devotes an entire book to America's favorite cuisine -- Italian!

Italy and its wonderful flavors have always had a major influence on Jamie Oliver?s food and cooking. In Jamie?s Italy, he travels this famously gastronomic country paying homage to the classic dishes of each region and searching for new ideas to bring home. The result is a sensational collection of Italian recipes, old and new, that will ensure that Italy?s influence reaches us all.

Italy has inspired Jamie Oliver throughout his career. His ambition has always been to travel across the country on a quest to capture the very essence of Italian cooking -- and to produce the best and simplest Italian cookbook for everybody anywhere to enjoy.

Jamie?s Italy is the result of that journey -- and it?s a land of plenty. As well as providing more than 120 brand-new recipes for everything from risotto to roasts and spaghetti to stews, structured as traditional trattoria menus, Jamie takes you all over Italy to cook with and learn from the real masters of Italian cuisine: the locals. Far from the standard "lemons and olives" version of Italian cooking, Jamie?s Italy is a cookbook by the people for the people. From Sicily to Tuscany, it?s about the local fishermen, family bakers, and, of course, the "Mamas," sharing their recipes and the tips that have gone into their cooking for generations. But it?s not only mouthwatering food that Jamie brings back home: it?s also the spirit that makes cooking and eating absolutely central to family life, whichever part of Italy you?re in.

Bursting with the warmth and hospitality of real family life, this is both a superbly accessible cookbook and a unique travelogue and diary, in which you?ll find the authentic flavor of Italy and the people who live there. If you love quality food prepared with genuine passion -- you?ll never want to leave Jamie?s Italy.

Price: $34.95

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Jamie's Kitchen

Naked? Its not himits the food! Jamie Oliver, a.k.a. the Naked Chefis Englands #1 bestselling food sensation, a charismatic, streetwise culinary wonder boy whose personality is as fresh and unpretentious as his cooking. In this extraordinary cookbook, Jamie takes all of the trade secrets he has accumulated since he started cooking at age eight and distills them into a refreshingly simple style that really works for people who are passionate about food, but dont always have a lot of time, money, or space. Jamie has applied his strip it bare then make it work principle to all his mealsfrom salads to roasts, desserts to pastasand has created a foolproof repertoire of simple, feisty, and delicious recipes that combine bold flavours with fresh ingredients. With more than 120 fuss-free recipes, The Naked Chef, a sumptuous feast for the eyes as well as the stomach, is modern cooking at its best.

Price: $39.95

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Jamie Oliver Talks Meal Revolution

Chef Jamie Oliver of TV's The Naked Chef, Jamie's Kitchen, and Jamie at Dwelling fame spoke to a packed theatre at Toronto's Roy Thompson Hall. In town to promote the philosophy behind his latest mission Jamie's Ministry of Foods and its accompanying cookbook, Jamie's Foods Revolution, the charismatic Oliver enlightened the audience on his mission to acquire consumers back into the kitchen, cooking their personal meals. Holding court for eighty minutes, the chef-turned-celebrity was enthusiastic about practicing what he preached, usually dancing across the stage or posing to illustrate a point, namely, that someone can cook and it truly is never to late to master to cook for oneself.

When it premiered in 2008 on television, Jamie's Ministry of Meals was set in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. This location was chosen as it represented a incredibly average picture of British working-class society. By recruiting numerous students for his cooking class, the theory espoused by Oliver was that when an individual mastered the capability to cook even one straightforward recipe, he or she could then teach two way more most people the same recipe, and they in turn would pass it on to two extra people today. The "Pass It On" campaign gathered mobility via social networking websites including Facebook where users were able to chart their progress in studying recipes and passing them forward.

Someone Can Cook According to Oliver

Jamie Oliver's overarching theory is, obviously, given the important instruction, anybody can understand to cook. Oliver claims that all it takes to begin cooking for oneself and family members is self-confidence. The revolution he is taking charge of would be to push for the switch from fast meals to residence cooking, for not just the sake of the nation's wallet, but also for health reasons. Oliver believes that families might be fed high quality dwelling cooking on any budget- be it $10, $20, or $50- you will find inexpensive and delicious choices for all.

Part of Oliver's campaign includes not just teaching people today the crucial kitchen skills, but also the grocery shopping know-how in studying about fresh and nutritious ingredients, beginning with elementary school-age kids. His faith rests inside the younger generations as he says this is the generation who will seek out alter, ask questions and are even more eco-conscious than ever. A charismatic speaker, he encourages all men and women to go "back to our roots" in eating healthful, sustainable foods, specifically those grown locally.

How to have Youngsters to produce Nutritious Alternatives

With a young family members of his personal and years of experience operating in schools and kitchens with youngsters, additionally to the insight gained in his Jamie's School Dinners project, Oliver has a few tips for finding children into foods. As opposed to forcing youngsters to consume veggies, he insists on producing issues fun, including grocery shopping, suggesting parents let youngsters pick fresh fruits and veggies out themselves. Oliver also believes in focusing on the balanced and fresh items little ones do like, rather than forcing them to consume the factors they dislike. Too, Oliver says there's nothing wrong with blending additional veggies into child favourites like pasta sauce and soups.

It's clear Oliver is passionate about cooking and receiving many people to produce healthful options. With the compelling Ministry of Foodstuff series as well as the accompanying book full of easy-to-learn crative recipes, his meals revolution has the capacity to alter the attitudes and kitchens of a wonderful number of folks.

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Blade Steak Recipe With Rosemary and White Beans

Cooking a good blade steak is no rocket science. There is a solution to be successful at this recipe for all us. You either can be a natural like Jamie Oliver, have gifted family member who "tells" you how to do it, or use a good recipe. Most of us choose the last option, so here we go. Blade steaks are an amazing meal braised and served with potatoes, vegetables or a salad on the side. For the special occasions you can serve them in a gourmet style for a truly unique and delicious meal. Don't be surprised to have your guests or family asking for more in just seconds. .

This is an amazing recipe for blade steaks with rosemary white-bean puree.

You will need:

4 top blade beef chuck steaks (1/2 to 1 inch thick; 1 1/2 lbs. total)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus some additional olive oil for drizzling
3 garlic cloves
2 (15-oz) cans of white beans such as cannellini, drained and rinsed off
1/3 cup reduced-sodium Swanson chicken broth
1.25 tablespoon of tomato paste
1.5 teaspoon of chopped rosemary, divided
1/3 cup of dry white wine
2 tablespoons of finely chopped and pitted
Kalamata olives, divided
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper

Rinse the four steaks and pat them dry. Season them salt and pepper, and lay them flat. Next cut 3-4 thin slits across the cartilage in each steak to help prevent it from curling. Now, heat about 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy skillet over high heat until it simmers. Sear your blade steaks in the heated oil about 3-4 minutes per side for medium rare. Longer if well done is desired.

While you are braising your blade steaks, it is time for you to get started on the rosemary and white bean puree

Preparation of the Rosemary and Bean Puree

It is useful if you have a food processor. Start by dropping in your cloves of garlic with motor running then add in your well-drained rinsed white beans. Add oil and chicken broth and about ¼ teaspoon of salt. Use pulse until mixture becomes smooth.

Now, it's time to finish up this dish. Pull your steaks off and set to the side on a plate.

Reduce temperature to medium;

add in tomato paste and 1 tablespoon of rosemary being sure to stir about every 15 seconds. Pour in wine and return to a boil. Scraping out well the brown bits for about 30 seconds. Stir in white bean puree and 1-tablespoon olives and cook until heated thoroughly stirring constantly about 3-4 minutes then stir in all your meat juices from the plate and season to taste with salt and pepper!

You and your family are now ready to experience an amazing meal with this simple but great tasting blade steak recipe. On our site you will find many more.

Blade Steaks, cube steak recipes in all difficulty levels can be found at out site www.steaks-guide.com where chefs and experts from over the globe share their kitchen secrets.

Visit our site http://www.steaks-guide.com to find many more blade, skirt or cubed steak recipes, shared by experts from around the globe.

Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices

As the first grassroots cookbook to emerge from social media, The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook features competition-tested recipes from foodie-favorite Web site Foodista.com. Foodista.com is the Web's premier source for collaborative cooking. The site's goal is to build the world's largest high-quality online cooking encyclopedia that offers followers everything from recipes to cooking instructions.

Foodista.com bloggers worldwide were invited to submit their favorite blog posts, recipes, and photos to compete for a spot inside this cookbook. Winning entries were selected from all over the globe and include recipes such as Smoked Salmon and Mascarpone Calzone, Spiced Wine-Poached Persimmon, Prosciutto-Wrapped Broccolini with Basil Crisps, and Snickerdoodle Ice Cream. So, step away from the keyboard and open up The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook to explore the world of food that awaits.

Price: $19.99

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What Are the Best Ways of Cooking Healthy Food?

If you have decided to follow a diet plan to lose weight, you then need to decide how best to prepare your meals. Even though you may be having fresh fruit and vegetables, you won't want to eat everything raw. There are several ways of cooking healthy food and you will be able to do so without having to make great changes from your usual cooking methods.

Baking is a good option for many foods in a diet plan. Wrap the food in foil to keep it moist and prevent drying out. The food will be tastier when you do that.

Boiling is fine for fish. Don't use butter or oil for marinades and make sauces using water as a base. If you are boiling vegetables, do them in cook bags to prevent contact with the water, which would remove a certain amount of the nutrients from the veges. As an alternative use a steamer which holds the food above the boiling water.

Grilling is satisfactory. Again wrap food in foil to retain the juices.

Microwaving works well for a number of foods. There are many utensils suitable for use in a microwave oven. A microwave proof lidded container with a table spoonful of water in the bottom is great for cooking vegetables.

Frying is not generally recommended for cooking healthy food, though if done using a small amount of olive oil or canola oil it will not disrupt the diet plan.

Some tips for cooking healthy food from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver;

Learn some quick, good-for-you recipes
Shop properly. Bypass the processed foods and go for fresh vegetables. He suggests making a salad with different lettuces and adding radish or carrot to give it crunch.
Make your own dressing. His recipe; combine 3 parts olive oil with 1 part lemon juice or red wine vinegar, add a little salt and pepper, shake the mixture in a jar - and that's it.

A recipe for healthier French Fries

Slice potatoes thin and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper

Bake on a foil-covered cookie sheet at 425°F (220°C) toss every 15 mins.

After 45 minutes, turn oven up to 450°F (235°C) for 5 minutes until the chips are golden brown (don't let them burn.)

Serve with organic ketchup.

There are plenty of recipes available for cooking healthy food, just do a search on the internet for weight loss recipes and you will find a host of ideas you can use or adapt to suit, and you will soon work out the best ways of preparing healthy food.

Norm Pavelka brings you practical down-to-earth information related to safe weight loss.

His desire is to help the millions of people throughout the world who are over weight or obese and are searching for a way to lose weight safely. They want something that will really help.

To see a review of five weight loss programs which Norm recommends please click on this link http://www.topweightlossreview.info

Making Food at the Click of Your Mouse

Gone are the days when we used to memorize recipes passed down to us by our mothers and grandmothers, or write down the procedure into dog-eared notebooks. Most of us don't even spend money buying cookbooks anymore because anything that you could want is available at the click of a button. We are no longer limited to cooking the food we grew up, with the availability of so many dishes to try on the Internet; we can cook up a different meal everyday or pull out special compilations for dinner parties and theme parties as well.

Christmas dinner this year was so easy, all I had to do was log on to the Internet, browse a few websites, and choose the dishes I wanted to make, I had choices of all kinds of meat and poultry, dessert ideas, ideas for starters, and even suggestions for drinks to serve. All I did was print the ones I want and I was off to the market and then to the kitchen to serve a yummy spread.

When you log on to a cooking site you will find details for appetizers, ideas for making bread in your bread machine, baby food recipes, barbeque and barbeque sauce mixes, beverage mixes - including desserts, coffee, and hot chocolate, how to make pages for biscotti and bisques, bread and breakfast ideas, and quick tips and ideas for many other categories.

You can also search for recipes by what they contain: beef, chicken, lamb, salad, soup, seafood, or dessert.

These often come with the list of ingredients required at the top and precise directions following, including timings and heat settings for the oven and other machines.

Other great features of these comprehensive cookery web sites are the tags that are applied to each entry, so that you can see what the entry contains at a glance. All you need to do is click on the required category and get to know the details of making different dishes.

One of the best parts about looking for and using information from the Internet is that it's very easy to bookmark sites and refer to them for later use, or to cut and copy the information into a word document and print them out for your own collection. You can even visit free websites for a downloadable cookbook in which to store all your recipes on your computer.

The comments section after each entry allows you to read comments from other chefs who have made the same dishes, and learn what went well and what didn't work, you can also find time saving tips and substitution ideas in this section as well.

A majority of the famous chefs now have their recipes posted online and in searchable directories, this includes famous chefs like Niglella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, along with a whole host of other personalities. Many housewives and cooks also like to share their knowledge by posting their favorite dishes and tricks on food and cookery websites for other readers to try and use.

Now you don't have to search for good cookbooks to impress your fiancee. Thousands and thousands of recipes are available online to help you out, all you need is to have computer with internet connection at home. Read more by visiting the provided link.

Happy Days with the Naked Chef

Jamie Oliver's Happy Days with the Naked Chef is in the same mold as his bestselling cookbooks, The Naked Chef and The Naked Chef Takes Off: recipes for simple, comforting food. This time, however, he has some interesting additions from his travels to Australia, New Zealand, America, and Japan. There are three new ideas in Happy Days with the Naked Chef. Oliver has included a chapter on "Comfort Food"--the kind of cooking Nigel Slater and Nigella Lawson specialize in. There are recipes for British favorites like Toad in the Hole, Fish Finger Buttie, and Sticky Sausage Bap with Melted Cheese and Brown Sauce. In his "Quick Fixes" chapter, Oliver has selected dishes where saving time and minimal washing up are the key ingredients. These include a Steak Sarnie and Chicken Breast Baked in a Bag with Mushrooms, Butter, White Wine, and Thyme. He has also included a "Kids Club" chapter, which offers inspiration for parents trying to get their children excited about food. The new additions don't dominate the book as the remaining two-thirds contain Oliver's standard Italian-style fare: simple salads, fish, meat, vegetables, breads, and desserts. Don't miss the excellent recipe for Medallions of Beef with Morels and Marsala and Crème Fraîche Sauce. Oliver has also been traveling and you'll find recipes with bok choy, soy sauce, and ginger popping up here and there--delicious! --Elizabeth Murgatroyd, Amazon.co.uk

Price: $34.95

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Pre-Organize Your Meals So You Don't Succumb to Advertising Ploys

Rotate Roster

Every household has their regular meals that they rotate every couple of weeks. Even still, getting it down on paper can make the difference between remembering to take the mince from the freezer or ending up with McDonalds again. Print it out from a computer - (like I do to hide messy handwriting.) An example below:

Double Quantities

I swear by the old 'double quantity preparation to have two consecutive nights. Admittedly my hubby wasn't thrilled about the prospect of regularly eating the same thing two nights running, considering he was used to a different meal every night made by his motheras he was growing up. But times have changed! He soon got over this when he saw how much more I time I had with the kids and him and less washing up for him too!

Quick Check

Have a quick look at your Menu Roster at the start of the week and it will prompt you to make a few decisions about the upcoming week and what you actually need to buy for it to go smoothly.Then grab your pre-printed Shopping List and 'Bob's your Uncle' (sorry to our non- Australian subscribers - it's an Aussie term for "Everything will work out great!" You will have all your ingredients and will have more time relaxing not making a quick dash to the supermarket to get a couple of things you forgot.

Pre- printed Shopping List

Keep your Menu Plan with all the usual ingredients you may need - adding any special infrequent items on the back. Put it somewhere everyone can add to -fridge/telephone table etc.

Freeze Freeze Freeze

The freezer is a great time and money saver but try not to over-rely on it and eat as much fresh food as possible. As with anything - maintain a balance.

Mix it up

I tend to steer clear of the old steak and three Vege's option, opting for Meat and Vege's mixed together because I prefer the flavor more, and if you have kids then this is more palatable. My kids actually love spinach would you believe - due to not having to eat it on it's own as it makes all the difference!

DINNER MENU IDEAS:

Tuna & Coconut Milk Rice Bake

Curried Vegetable Filo Pastries

Chow Mien

Chilli Concarne

Roast and Vege's

Nacho's / Taco's

Carbonara

Plum Sauce Beef Stir Fry

Smoked Salmon & Spinach pasta (with olive oil & garlic)

Jamie Oliver's Roasted Pumpkin, Chives and Feta Risotto

Now you can rest assured the week will go more smoothly because you've give meals some quick thinking time, then acted on it by buying what you need and therefore know you won't unexpectedly not have a vital ingredient. Happy cooking!

"Organize your life" to create space and time for you and those you love. Ensure you have the balance in management of yourself, Family, Home, Work, and Finance in your daily routine.

http://www.organizeyourlife.com.au

Author - Claire McFee

This is one of a handy set of "how to articles" accompaniment to the "Organize your life system", which in simple terms is a complete set of headed lists from the main areas of our lives, Family, Home, Work, Finance, Personal, each list comes with tips and links to manage every thing from the mundane to the most important.

For change to occur in your life; you must take action beyond downloading this article, you must read it, then set yourself an easy to follow plan. Then "Do It"

Claire loves helping people achieve a healthier more balanced life though better organization and also through preventative health measures.

Claire has a lot of success with publicity for her business including being featured on TV several times, plus numerous feature articles in news papers and magazines of note.

Easy Recipes for Lazy Students

Moving away to university is undoubtedly a big step for many young people - perhaps the biggest difference being that mum won't cook for them any more! This invariably means that a lot of new students will live off of take-away foods, pizza, and toasted cheese sandwiches for breakfast everyday. I know, because I was exactly the same. Luckily, I lived in a share house with someone who could actually cook, so even if I ate badly throughout the week there was always the delicious house Sunday Roast to look forward to!

But it doesn't have to be that way. If you're a student now - or going to be in the next few years - then now really is the time to learn how to cook some really basic, healthy meals for yourself. As a male myself, a lot of us actually grew up with the impression that cooking was for girls. My school didn't even teach home-economics classes, because it was a boys only school and clearly boy don't need to cook - do they? But I'll tell you something now lads - the girls absolutely love a man who can cook! You think being the head of the basketball team makes girls like you? Not half as much as if you could cook!

You're not going to be the next Jamie Oliver overnight, but there are some ever so basic meals that anyone should be able to throw together, so I'd like to teach you some today.

First off, the quiche...

Quiches (sometimes known as a Flan) are basically just fluffy egg pies with some random ingredients thrown in for flavour.

Ingredients:

- Some puff pastry or ready-rolled shortcrust pastry for the pie, 375g should do it

- 2 eggs

- 150ml milk

- 4 tablespoons of single or whipping cream, though extra milk will work at a pinch

- 100g of grated cheddar cheese

- Some kind of filling, I suggest 100g ham and 100g mushrooms for your first try!

- A pie baking tin

Instructions:

1. Leave the pastry out at room temperature for about 20 minutes so it'll be easier to roll into the tin. When you've done that, pre-heat your oven to 200?C, or gas mark 6.

2. Use this time to chop up your filling vegetables and meat. Not too small that you won't be able to taste it, but not so big either. It's up to you, so feel free to go all chunky with them if you want.

3. You should be ready to line the pie tin with your pastry now. Use a knife to cut away any overhanging bits, then you'll need to spread a sheet of cooking foil over it and bake it a little first. Why? Well, right now it's a little bit gooey, so we need to toughen it up a little before we put the egg mix in. Put it in the oven for 10 minutes and that should be enough.

4. While that's going on, whisk together the eggs, milk, and cream. If you've never cracked an egg in one hand before, now would be a good time to learn. Hold the egg like your hand is a claw, with your thumb and little finger clasping one half of the egg, and your middle 3 fingers clasping the top half. Tap the egg lightly against the edge of a bowl, then use your "claws" to pry apart the egg and spill the contents out, all in one smooth motion. I'm sure you'll mess it up the first time, so try again! Add a little salt and pepper too.

5. Final preparation step is top get the tin out of the oven, throw your filing meat and mushrooms in it, along with half of the cheese, then pour in the whisked egg mix. Finish the whole thing off with the rest of the cheese sprinkled on top, then bake for 30 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch.

Best served with a simple salad - speaking of which...

Easy Salad Dressing:

I used to really hate salads, because they were always served plain our house. Seriously, without anything on it, just the leaves. Which is a shame, because a tasty and healthy salad dressing is so easy to make and makes salad just so delicious. When I discovered this recipe, I ate salad everyday for two months, I kid you not. I was making up for lost tastiness.

Also, don't think a salad has to be sunny lettuce. There are a lot of other green leaves that are good for you and a lot tastier to boot. You can even grow almost all salad leaves in a one foot square area of your garden, or balcony - but that's another article entirely. For now, get some nice "rocket" and assorted "baby leaves" for your salad, and then on to a nice dressing. Find a small glass jar to mix it up in, and if you make too much you can always use it again tomorrow so don't worry too much about that.

Ingredients:

- Virgin Olive Oil

- Whole grain mustard

- Lemon juice

- White wine vinegar

- Some minced garlic, or powder

- A little sugar, salt, and pepper

Fill about a tenth of the jar with a mixture of white wine vinegar, lemon juice, and a dollop of mustard. Fill a further third of the jar with olive oil, then add a teaspoon of garlic, and sugar. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Shake the jar vigorously, and serve. Don't drown the salad in dressing, though. Personally, I like to mix in some sliced black olives too, but they aren't to everyone's taste so do ask first if you're having guests.

That's it for today, and should at least have you sorted for one decent meal a week. Check out this site when you're ready to tackle another easy recipe.

Jamie's Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook

Cooking sensation Jamie Oliver returns with a cookbook designed to delight the entire family! estselling cookbook author Jamie Oliver takes his signature fresh, fun cooking style into new territory by putting his focus on the family. Designed to encourage us to eat healthier meals at home and enjoy our time spent in the kitchen, Jamie's Dinners features over 100 new and simple recipes for easy-to-afford, easy-to-prepare gourmet dinners that will get even the busiest of families back into the kitchen. Jamie's pared-down style and inventive use of fresh, uncomplicated ingredients will ensure that even novice chefs can cook up delicious dinners with confidence and ease using accessible, stylish recipes that the whole family will love, such as Farfalle with Carbonara and Spring Peas and Japanese-Style Saturday Night Steak.

Price: $34.95

Click here to buy from Amazon

Learn How to Cook on Your Nintendo DS

If you're like a lot of people you've probably never considered learning how to cook using a video game console. However, the Nintendo DS has turned cooking into an interactive video game experience with a few different video games. Nintendo hopes to get families to spend more time in the kitchen together with these video games.

1. What's Cooking? with Jamie Oliver

This interactive cookbook allows you to cook recipes in the virtual world as well as in your own kitchen. While the thought of cooking on a Nintendo DS might seem a bit strange, you'll discover that as you compete against the computer you have access to more recipes which you can later try in real life. You can even share recipes using the Wifi connection on your Nintendo DS Lite. You'll probably find that What's Cooking makes a better cookbook than a game. It comes with 100 of Jamie Oliver's delicious recipes that you can recreate at home using the shopping list function included with the game.

2. Gourmet Chef: Cook Your Way to Fame

Gourmet Chef is another attempt by Nintendo to help you learn how to cook. However, this time an emphasis is placed on the art of French cooking. This game is more about learning certain cooking tasks with the stylus and then later applying them to real recipes. Gourmet Chef is geared more towards adults who want to learn how to cook than kids. A game better geared toward kids is Cooking Mama.

3. Cooking Mama

There are several games to choose from in the Cooking Mama series. In the original game you use the stylus to create many different recipes while you compete against other chefs for the gold medal. One of my favorite features of this game is being able to cool down hot dishes by blowing into the Nintendo DS microphone. Once you start playing this game it can become very addicting.

4. Personal Trainer: Cooking

Personal Trainer: Cooking is more like a virtual cookbook than a video game. Unlike many other cooking games, the purpose of Personal Trainer is to use the recipes to make real meals in your own kitchen. This game features a chef who talks you through over 245 recipes from around globe. This might be the most innovative cooking game available for the Nintendo DS Lite.

Believe it or not but there are many other cooking games available for the Nintendo DS than those listed in this article. Even though you might not have considered owning a Nintendo DS before, these cooking games have attracted a whole new audience to the world of hand-held video game consoles. If you'd like to learn how to cook, a cheap Nintendo DS might be a wise investment. For more information visit: Cheap Nintendo DS Deals today.

School Dinners

From lumpy custard to turkey twizzlers, school dinners are always a hot topic of discussion these days. So here's the facts:

A school dinner is a meal which is served to children at school. The school dinners are usually served round about Noon time (12:00pm).

School lunch breaks can vary in how long they last for. Some school lunch breaks may last an hour, some last 45 minutes, others may only last half an hour.

On average, a school dinner costs about £1.55.

In British school children are given the option whether to have either a hot snack or a cold snack for their dinner. Children are also allowed to bring a packed lunch in from home.

School dinners became a big topic in the UK in 2004 when Jamie Oliver, spearheaded a campaign to improve the quality of the meals being served at schools.

Why do children prefer junk food to healthier food?

The obvious answer is due to all the additives and flavourings in many processed foods. But could the way meals are prepared also be to blame? Much effort is now being made to increase the quality of healthy meals. Hopefully with bland looking and tasteless healthy options being replaced with fresh produce and exciting recipes the trends will change for the better.

What effects is this having?

What we eat affects everything: our mood, behaviour, health, growth and even our ability to concentrate.

A lunchtime meal provides one third of a grown child's daily nutritional intake.

By challenging the junk foods served at schools, we can show children that they can still enjoy their dinners, even when it is served fresh and nutritious.

New school dinner standards, means that by autumn all the menus will have to be changed and made healthier for the children.

To make changes like these happen so quick, it is really important that the dinnerladies have our full support.

With our full support, dinnerladies, can start to serve healthy, nutritious food instead of the usual junk food.

Emma Louise Leech

BuyCatering.com Ltd

http://www.buycatering.com

The Fish Haters Guide to Eating Fish - For Diets & Weight Loss

I'm one of the many people who don't like seafood. There's varying grades of fish haters, from not really enjoying it that much through to being physically repelled by it. I'm in the latter category and until earlier this year, I hadn't touched it for years. I'm the sort of person who feels repulsed even if someone at the same table is eating seafood - especially when it arrives on the plate looking the same as it did when it was alive! I don't know about anyone else, but the thought of tearing the meat out of the shell or eating a fish, head and all, just seems repugnant. Give me a slab of beef any day - at least it doesn't resemble the cow from whence it came!

However, the likes of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall would be appalled and frankly he's right to be! This level of repulsion isn't right and thus I set about trying to overcome my fish phobia. I am proud to say that since January, I have eaten fish almost every week. I can't say I enjoy it, but I persevere because I know it is good for me.

Sometimes I am able to eat the piece of fish on my plate with the minimum of fuss, whilst other times I simply can't chew or swallow it. For instance, I made a smoked haddock risotto once and I only managed one mouthful. Another time I made monkfish tails, and the sight and feel of the spine was revolting. It's really a case of finding a mild, inoffensive fish and disguising the taste by using other tasty ingredients.

So here's my guide to recipes that even the most ardent of fish-phobics can face - so long as you're committed to trying.

1. Baked Fish with Rosemary Potatoes

I got this recipe from a Jamie Oliver book but unfortunately I can't find the recipe on his site. I'll try to remember everything! Thinly slice some potatoes and add to a roasting tin. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary, black olives, salt & pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Mix it up so all the potatoes are evenly covered and cover with foil. Bake at about 180 degrees celsius for 20 mins, then remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, rub some olive oil into some cod or haddock fillets (not smoked, unless you like strong-tasting fish!) and place on top of the potatoes. Sprinkle with more rosemary, olive oil, and pancetta if you like and cook for a further 15 - 20 minutes.

The good thing about this meal is that the fish is mild, so all you have to worry about is the texture. The rosemary, olives and pancetta add a delicious flavour - and the roasted potatoes can be your treat for eating the fish!

2. Char-Grilled Tuna

This dish astounded me because the tuna steak had almost no flavour at all. As such, I was able to eat it without any problems whatsoever and the vinaigrette was lovely on the boiled potatoes and broccoli I had with the fish. You can find the recipe on the Delia Smith website.

3. Super Quick Fish Curry

The combination of the mild fish and the curry-like sauce means that this dish is palatable - again, your only concern is getting to grips with the texture!

4. Spiced Tuna Salad Nicoise

I haven't tried this dish yet, but I will be inspired to do so now I know how mild tuna steaks are. In fact, I think tuna steaks are going to become a staple fish dish for me!

5. Herby Fish Fingers

I've had these fish fingers a couple of times now and it works for me because I can smother them in ketchup! The fish fingers need to be shallow fried so it's not ideal from a weight loss point of view, but I reckon it's ok once in a while, particularly if it means I get the health benefits of fish.

For links to all the recipes above visit our original article at www.watchingusloseweight.com [http://www.watchingusloseweight.com/post/The-Fish-Haters-Guide-to-Eating-Fish.aspx] - The Fish Haters Guide to Eating Fish.

To view our blog about losing weight and how we are trying to do it visit www.watchingusloseweight.com [http://www.watchingusloseweight.com]

Cook with Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook

My guide to making you a better cook.

I can't tell you how long I've dreamed about writing this book. It's the biggest book I've ever done, and I've really tried to make it a timeless, modern-day classic. Whether you're a student, a young couple, an established cook, or a novice, I'll take you through a whole load of simple and accessible recipes that will blow the socks off your family and any guests you might have round for dinner. There's information on the equipment that I think you should have in your kitchen, advice on how to recognize and cook loads of different cuts of meat, as well as on how to get the best value and quality when you're out shopping. With all of us consuming more processed food than ever, it's a sad fact that most people just aren't confident enough to cook anymore. With this in mind, now is the time for you to get stuck in and reclaim your fantastic cooking heritage!

You know what . . . if you're going to eat three times a day for the rest of your life, you might as well learn to cook properly and enjoy it! So roll up your sleeves and let me help you.

P.S.: By the way, you should feel good about buying this book because every single penny I make from it will go toward training and inspiring young kids from tough backgrounds all over the world to have a career in food through the Fifteen Foundation. So on behalf of them, thank you.

Price: $37.50

Click here to buy from Amazon

Choosing Your Personal Celebrity Chef

Celebrity chefs are all the rage!

Endless cooking and baking shows, not to mention The Food Network, have created dozens of culinary stars. How do you choose which one(s) to follow? Answering this question is not as easy as it appears.

I'm assuming that, like me, you have a limited amount of time and resources. Therefore, you can't watch all the shows and you can't buy all the books- it's just not practical. You've got to make some decisions.

Here are some things to consider when making this difficult choice:

1) Choose a chef whose personality you enjoy- you'll potentially be spending lots of time together!

2) Consider you health goals- are the type of meals they cook in line with your dietary aspirations?

3) Take expenses into account. Can you afford their favorite ingredients?

4) It's about time. Can their meals be prepared within your allotted hourly budget?

5) Simplicity. Some meals look delicious but they are not for the amateur home chef.

Taking all these factors into account, I have chosen to follow Jamie Oliver. Jamie is entertaining and tends to prepare healthy, affordable, simple meals. He uses only fresh ingredients like local produce and the meals come together quickly. After sampling a couple of online recipes, I took the plunge and bought a couple of Jamie's recipe books. I couldn't be happier.

But that's just me. The best thing for you to do before deciding which chef is right for you is to sample several of them by watching their television shows. Prepare a couple of recipes from television or their websites. Consider the factors above and you'll be on your way to hours of enjoyment and good eating.

Good luck!

Jamie Oliver - Happy Days Tour Live!

Filmed live in front of a sell-out crowd, Jamie's brand new show takes live cooking to a level of entertainment that has never been seen before! Toured within Britain and then to the other side of the world - "Happy Days" has played to sell-out audiences . This specially staged performance is based around Jamie's energetic lifestyle and inspirational cooking and sees Jamie moving into his stylish new apartment - complete with a state-of-the-art kitchen. Here he whips up a variety of great new recipes for friends and family. With 9 brand new recipes, specially filmed sequences, loads of audience participation, and a revealing 15 minute bonus interview with Jamie himself, Happy Days Tour Live! has something for everyone!

Price: $9.99

Click here to buy from Amazon

Will This Eating Plan Help You Lose Weight, Lower Blood Sugar Levels and Your Risk of Heart Disease?

Many studies show that a Mediterranean diet lowers heart disease. But recent studies are showing that it is also a super way to lose weight and therefore it may play a part in the prevention of Type 2 diabetes. According to an article published in Nutrition and Metabolism in Cardiovascular Disease, July, 2010... that would probably be a good plan for people with Type 2 diabetes.

Researchers in the Faculty of Health University of Canberra, the Department of Medicine University of Melbourne and St. Vincent's Hospital in Victoria, Australia looked at the diet of 27 study participants aged 47 to 77 who had Type 2 diabetes. The subjects were randomly assigned to either a Mediterranean diet, where they ate foods of their own choosing as long as they were in the Mediterranean diet plan, or their usual diets for the first 12 weeks. After 12 weeks the volunteers switched to the alternate diet. While eating the Mediterranean diet, volunteers showed a decrease in their hemoglobin A1C level, a test that measures and shows the level of blood sugar control over the past 120 days.

The ratio of plant to animal food improved and plasma lycopene and lutein/zeaxanthin increased. Lycopene, a substance related to vitamin A, is found in tomatoes and tomato sauce and is thought to play a role in lowering the risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer, including pancreatic cancer. According to one study published in 2006, it might lower the risk of Type 2 diabetes. Lutein and zeaxanthin are related to lycopene and might help to prevent cataracts, one of the complications of uncontrolled blood sugar levels.

When volunteers were eating the Mediterranean diet their plasma saturated and trans fatty acids decreased and their monounsaturated fatty acids increased. The saturated and trans fatty acids are the ones partly responsible for heart and blood vessel disease. The unsaturated fats are the healthful kind. The researchers in this concluded that blood sugar control and dietary quality was improved while patients followed the Mediterranean diet.

The Mediterranean diet bases all its meals on:

fruit
vegetables
whole grains,
olive oil
beans
nuts
legumes
seed
herbs and spices

People in Greece average nine servings per day of fruits and vegetables. Whole grain bread is eaten without butter or margarine, but plain or with olive oil. A moderate amount of wine is a controversial part of the Mediterranean diet, but grape juice can be substituted for wine.

Chef Jamie Oliver, on his mission to get the world eating healthy foods, suggests this recipe for Mediterranean chopped salad:

a small handful black olive
half a red onion
1 red chili
3 firm ripe tomatoes
a Romaine lettuce
a bunch of fresh basil,
extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and freshly ground black pepper.

The principles of a Mediterranean-style diet... olive oil as the staple fat, the abundant use of fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish and other lean protein sources, and whole grains... are easy to adapt.

Obviously weight loss is important with a diagnosis of Type 2 diagnosis, but what is more important is the effect this style of eating has on blood sugar levels.

And now I would like you to claim you Free E-Book when you visit Answers to Your Questions

You will then have access to information diabetics have requested over recent months.

Beverleigh Piepers RN... the Diabetes Detective.
http://drugfreetype2diabetes.com/blog
Beverleigh Piepers is the author of this article. This article can be used for reprint on your website provided all the links in the article are complete and active. Copyright (c) 2010 - All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Albumin - An Essential Ingredient in the Recipe for Healthy Skin

Like getting the latest Jamie Oliver recipe right, skincare is a fine balance between scientific technology and natural ingredients. Unlike Mr Oliver's 'chuck it in' approach, your skincare has to be measured in perfect amounts to create the best healthy skin formula.

So what is the essential ingredient to add to the recipe for ultimate skin rejuvenation action? Recombumin, derived from human albumin, is the world's first and only animal-free, commercially available recombinant approved for use in the manufacture of human therapeutics.

What does that mean exactly? Imagine your skincare regime as ingredients for a cake, so you have the eggs (cleanser), toner (sugar) and moisturiser (flour), but without that tiny magic ingredient, baking powder, your cake is destined to look flat, undernourished and un-appetising. The same applies to your face!

Albumin, used primarily for burn victims can be used to promote bright, replenished and healthy skin for every face. For those unfortunate enough to suffer from burns will be pleased to hear that albumin is excellent for regeneration of skin cells to reveal a beautiful body or face.

Those amazing amino acid residues are found within albumin that act as a building block for proteins. These proteins that can have a positive effect upon cells help to improve skin that has been scarred or has stretch marks. When used correctly, amino acids seem to be more powerful than other systems of skin care in terms of filling lines, smoothing skin and improving tone and colour. Even better, they can achieve this with less irritation and photosensitivity.

It's also understood that amino acids, applied externally in the right formula and also taken internally, can improve the skin's ability to stay hydrated. Properly hydrated skin not only takes and holds cosmetics better, but looks and feels more youthful.

Albumin is not just used in skin care; it has proven preferable to artificial mediums, ideal as a stabilizer in pharmaceutical and biotech products, effective as a drug delivery vehicle, and very useful in cryo preservation and cell culture, and even infertility treatments.

Albumin functions primarily as a carrier protein for steroids, fatty acids, and thyroid hormones and plays a role in stabilizing extracellular fluid volume. Mutations in this gene on chromosome 4 result in various anomalous proteins.

Albumin is a globular unglycosylated serum protein of molecular weight 65,000. The human albumin gene is 16,961 nucleotides long from the putative 'cap' site to the first poly (A) addition site. It is split into 15 exons which are symmetrically placed within the 3 domains that are thought to have arisen by triplication of a single primordial domain.

Your skin is one of the most valuable organs of the body (yes it's an organ!). It absorbs, regulates heat and cold, holds you together and looking after it mean you stay looking younger for longer! We all want the best anti-ageing for our skin; we have to remember to use the right ingredients to enable it to happen.

Mark Smith - Years of experience in biomanufacturing and process development. Areas of interest include bioproducts used in drug formulation and drug delivery. Applications of interest include Hyluronic Acid, Growth platforms and Albumin.

Contacts
For interviews, images or comments contact: Mark Smith
Marketing Team
Email: bnovozymes@gmail.com

Creative Way to Revolutionize School Lunches

First Lady Michelle Obama is spearheading a revolution called 'Let's Move'. She targets childhood obesity and is focusing on both increasing physical activity and changing to healthier meals in schools. Turn off the television and get active, drink more water and eat smaller portions, she advises. She's hitting the same notes as British TV chef Jamie Oliver who is romping around the United States also bringing his message to Americans about changing to a healthier diet, especially with school meals. Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution cites the reason behind his campaign is to impact the quality of life for school children in the US. Childhood obesity and Type II diabetes are at near epidemic proportions.

Hooray, it's about time this issue was made transparent and handled at a systemic level- meaning changing both the underlying mindset and transforming a key source of the problem. Educating parents about healthy eating is another area needing addressing, yet harder to make a dent in as harder to reach demographically.

Actually, I made a bid to deal with this issue a few years ago after moving back to the US after many years living in England. I spoke to my son's middle school principal about what I saw as the appalling nutritionless stuff offered as lunch. I even got permission to take a photo of what looked like cardboard slabs, later identified as tortillas, pizza slices and French fries. She more or less blew me off by saying that the contract of the food supplier was up in two years and she was considering not renewing them. Before that she didn't want to rock the boat, despite the evidence I cited showing a link between nutrition and academic achievement, which their school was seeking to raise. (She hadn't told me that she was also planning to retire within two years, and I guess this was one battle she just didn't want to fight.) I spoke to other concerned parents at a school event, and it turns out one was a cook in another county school who was attempting to introduce more fresh foods in their school, with great difficulty from the bureaucracy. So I eventually gave up and sent my son to school with a thermal bag lunch from home.

Meanwhile on my next trip to England, I tried to find Jamie Oliver's book that had been rocking the British school system at that time. I planned it bring it back to the US and donate it to a school that would use it. While I didn't find that particular book, I found another family cookbook from Mr. Oliver. Sadly, the recipes he proposed would never have gone down well with an American school-kid audience. Lamb and parsnip stew? Bubble and Squeak- a mish-mash of sausage, mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts? Curried chicken salad with Marmite? I don't think so. Still, I heartily applaud his effort. After all, how does one measure improvement in the quality of life for a child, which is priceless?

We get how Michelle Obama commands the eyes and ears of the American public. But how is a foreigner getting the message out? Through social media- Twitter, Facebook, plus TV coverage and endorsements Jamie is getting from regular Joe's to celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, P. Diddy and Heidi Klum who have all signed and support his petition for change. Maybe the time has finally come to make change happen...all it has taken is British Invasion #2 and modern means of global communication.

Join the conversation on Creative Living and your Legacy at its Best at

http://www.DonnaKimBrand.com.

Donna Kim-Brand,
Creative Energizer & Living Legacy Strategist

Jamie Does

"Jamie Does"...is Jamie's personal celebration of amazing food from six very different countries. Cheap, short-haul flights and long weekend getaways have become increasingly popular and within a few short hours of the UK there are new and exciting worlds of food waiting to be discovered as Jamie finds out. Each chapter focuses on a different city or region - Marrakesh, Athens, Venice, Andalucia, Stockholm and the Midi Pyrenees region of France. Classic recipes sit alongside new dishes that Jamie learns along the way. Alongside each recipe there is a beautiful photograph of the finished dish, as well as incredible reportage shots of Jamie's experiences in each country. Jamie says: 'The food I've embraced on each trip is a mixture of what you could call the cliched star dishes - the many tagines of Morocco, the flamboyant paellas of Spain, the comforting risottos from Italy and the zingy fresh flavours of a classic Greek salad - and the recipes that I've been inspired to make after walking through the markets and soaking up the vibes of each place. What you'll find in this book is fun, optimistic, escapist food you can actually cook and enjoy in your own home.'

Price:

Click here to buy from Amazon

Personal Trainer: Cooking

Personal Trainer: Cooking brings gourmet cooking from around the globe to your Nintendo DS. It features a DS Chef, your own private cooking instructor who talks you through 245+ recipes from over 30 countries worldwide. It's a combination of interactive cookbook and live cooking demonstration that'll have you cooking like a pro, even if you've never lifted a ladle before. With so many recipes, you can find something new and tasty to make no matter what you're in the mood for. You can search a map by country to find regional dishes or select options for low-calorie foods, specific ingredients or short cooking times. Each recipe contains step-by-step directions and photos to make it possible to prepare dishes you've never tried before. Use the stylus or simple voice commands to "turn the page." Hands covered in batter? Keep your DS clean using voice commands to continue to the next page, repeat a step, go back, and more. A tap of the touch screen lets you adjust the serving size automatically, and users can write and save cooking notes, just as they would in a paper recipe book. Recipes include photos of the dish as well as instructional videos on how to perform different cooking techniques, such as how to chop an onion or clean a fish. Users can access a handy reference function to explain unfamiliar terms and cooking techniques when they appear. The software includes a timer and calculator, as well as a search function to help you find what you're looking for. Cooking Guide also includes an ingredient checklist to use as a shopping list. Just put a ? mark next to the items you need and bring your Nintendo DS to the grocery store. You and the Chef will collaborate on a wide variety of recipes, with videos of techniques, explanations of ingredients, and expert advice. With its innovative interface and the interactivity that only the DS can provide, it's a perfect learning tool for the budding chef. As you browse recip

Price: $19.99

Click here to buy from Amazon

The Naked Chef

Naked? Its not himits the food! Jamie Oliver, a.k.a. the Naked Chefis Englands #1 bestselling food sensation, a charismatic, streetwise culinary wonder boy whose personality is as fresh and unpretentious as his cooking. In this extraordinary cookbook, Jamie takes all of the trade secrets he has accumulated since he started cooking at age eight and distills them into a refreshingly simple style that really works for people who are passionate about food, but dont always have a lot of time, money, or space. Jamie has applied his strip it bare then make it work principle to all his mealsfrom salads to roasts, desserts to pastasand has created a foolproof repertoire of simple, feisty, and delicious recipes that combine bold flavours with fresh ingredients. With more than 120 fuss-free recipes, The Naked Chef, a sumptuous feast for the eyes as well as the stomach, is modern cooking at its best.

Price: $34.95

Click here to buy from Amazon

Jamie Oliver - Oliver's Twist

One could do worse than be a part of Jamie Oliver's life. His daughter's babysitters are treated to the young chef's gourmet-chocolate tiramisu, his hard-partying mates drag themselves to morning-after fry-up feasts and Bloody Mary pitchers, and his band (London's Scarlet Division) fill up on exquisite vegetarian cuisine. This collection of seven Oliver's Twist episodes, originally broadcast in America on the Food Network, are enormous fun, grounded in the gregarious star's daily life of family, friends, mentors, suppliers--even the local cops. Absolutely everyone parades through Oliver's surprisingly modest kitchen to dine on lovingly prepared masterworks fusing tradition with improvisational brilliance. Whether the menu calls for high tea, a Bollywood theme night, or a gorgeous health-food breakfast, Oliver's affection for his work and his people makes for addictive viewing. --Tom Keogh

Price: $19.98

Click here to buy from Amazon

Promotional Gift For Christmas - Cooking Gifts Are Prized & Kept to Promote Your Business For Years

If you watch cookery TV, you have no doubt seen some of the excellent new cooking gadgets. There are many and a good majority of them are available as business gifts. Many are branded with famous names like Jamie Oliver, Paul Bocuse and Ken Hom. Promotional cookery gifts are different to most because they are used in the home. The key word here is "used." If you can find gifts for your customers that they will enjoy using, they will keep your gift and it will promote your brand for years.

Following are some of the most popular ideas. If you search the internet, you are likely to find even more fun cookery gifts. Each of these gifts can be found in popular shops with price tags quite a lot higher then you will pay when purchasing for your customers in bulk. Your key customers will feel very special when you present them with one of these fun executive gifts.

Pans and Woks: There is a large selection of brand name pans and woks by Jamie Oliver and Ken Hom. If you don't want to pay for the name, you can also purchase generic brands of varying quality. Many are very high quality. It is worth noting that Ken Hom has an amazing selection of accompaniments for his branded woks such as Chinese style wooden chopping boards and place settings.

Aprons: From the very popular denim Jamie Oliver apron made famous in his TV shows to the large variety of equally nice generic aprons, you will not be short of aprons to choose from. Each can be embroidered with your logo and details to ensure your customer remembers who gave them the nice gift.

Pepper and Spice Shakers: There is nothing like a good quality, heavy peppermill. They look and feel like a quality product. With peppermills and spice grinders it is important to look for quality because the lesser quality options on offer do not last long. You may have seen Jamie Oliver's flavour shaker in the shops. It is now available as a business gift and it comes with a Jamie Oliver recipe book for creating special spice blends.

Entertaining Sets: Things such as table top nut crackers, bread and tapas sets and fancy hors devours sets are all awaiting your logo. Gifts like these take a special place in your customers' homes. They will enjoy entertaining with such quality gifts and remember you each time they do. Perhaps you may even get an invite!

Wine Sets: Crystal wine decanters by Paul Bocuse together with multi-piece wine sets including waiter's knives, corkscrews and drip stoppers are all on offer. Some of the nicer sets are supplied in very attractive wooden boxes. If you look around, you will find extra large sets including thermometers and bottle stoppers.

Knife Sets: Everyone can use a good knife set. Even if you are not a cook, you still need one occasionally. There are many sets available from knife sets for chopping to steak knife sets presented in a branded wooden box.

Now I would like to invite you to visit my promotional gifts website. The site is packed with a large range of business gifts that are great for Christmas. You may also be interested in visiting my promotional pens website which features hundreds of discounted and popular pens.
Dan Toombs is Managing Director of CompuGift Limited. Established in 1997, CompuGift was the first internet based promotional gift supplier in the UK.

Granite Mortar and Pestle Set by Jamie Oliver

Jamie Oliver says: This is one of my favorite things to use in the kitchen! The size of this pestle and mortar is perfect for my recipes, so go on, get stuck in and have a blast! This set includes: - 1 granite pestle and mortar - 1 bag of rock salt - 50g - 1 bag of fennel seeds - 20g - 1 bag birds-eye chilies - 7g - 2 recipes 5 inches diam.

Price:

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How to Select Gift-Worthy Cookbooks for the Holiday Season

Gifts for the kitchen can easily cross the line, going from a thoughtful gesture to an inappropriate hint. For the holidays, beautiful cookbooks filled with inspiration should be your theme, leaving the overly practical cookbooks for the domestic chef to acquire on his or her own. Yet, when purchasing online, or fighting the holiday season rush, perusing the contents of cookbooks may not fit into your schedule.

Doing the work for you, we sifted through dozens of the year's newest and hottest cookbooks to select a few that easily reach gift-worthy status for friends, family, or that gracious hostess:

My Sweet Vegan - Gifts are intended to indulge the senses, and nothing could possibly indulge us more than a gorgeous cookbook filled with only desserts and sweets. Whether your recipient is a prolific baker or an amateur cook with a voracious sweet tooth, the new young author, Hannah Kaminsky, has several recipes to delight them. Full color throughout, an enticing photo taken by the author herself accompanies every single recipe, almost unprecedented in these days of mass production.

Lidia's Italy - When we think of comfort food, entertaining, and flavor, Italian food is one of the first thing to come to mind. Thus it is no surprise that this holiday season is filled with several beautiful Italian cookbooks. Yet, of those we viewed, the ultimate appeal was in this hefty title. As the subtitle "140 Simple and Delicious Recipes from the Ten Places in Italy Lidia Loves Most" implies, this substantial cookbook is filled with superb photography of not only the dishes she creates, but also the Italian countryside.

Nigella Express - As one of the newest cookbooks from the food network team, there is still a good chance that the receiver won't yet have it in his or her collection. Any hostess will appreciate this package of quick, easy, and impressive dishes to add to her pool of go-to recipes. Plus, Nigella delivers her "fast" food with dozens of pleasing food photos for a quick "how it should look" shot.

The above cookbooks can be found, or ordered, from most major booksellers, or you can easily find them online from http://www.amazon.com or http://www.bn.com.

Additional Tips to Selecting Cookbook Gifts:

Unless the recipient has specifically requested it, avoid anything with the words "diet" or "nutrition" in the title.

Take a quick flip through the book to ensure it has good eye appeal. Food photos and a well-designed layout will invite the home chef into the kitchen, and are a must for gift giving. But be warned, a cookbook that is overly stuffed with cameo shots of the author rather than pictures of the actual food, may be more fluff than substance.

Check both the title and subtitle when thinking of your recipient. While we love Jamie Oliver and his gorgeous cookbook series, his latest creation subtitled, "My Guide to Making you a Better Cook," may send the wrong message.

Last but not least, does the food look appealing to you? A cardinal rule of gift giving is to always give presents that you would enjoy receiving yourself.

Alisa Fleming is the Editor of Go Dairy Free and writes for many other predominant health publications as a freelance writer

How to Make a Pizza

Before I made my Pizza I had to make some Italian Tomato Sauce.

Ingredients:

1x onion

1x garlic clove

A pinch of Salt

1x Jar of Passata (preferably for Pizza Sauce)

...or 2x tins of good quality Tomatoes (preferably for Pasta Sauce)

...or a kilo of ripe tomatoes

1x Tablespoon of sugar

Add the onion and a pinch of salt, preferably Malden Sea Salt. Fry them off for about 10 minutes, in olive oil, slowly on a medium heat. Be careful you do not want to colour the onion. After 5 minutes add the garlic, you can crush the garlic with salt to create a paste. However I used the Goodfellas method, well I used my sharp chefs knife rather than a razor blade. You can always add half a chili if you want to make an Arrabiata sauce. If using passata, I like to add sliced sundried tomatoes as they add an extra bit of texture and depth to the sauce

You might want to rinse out your bottle/can with some water and add the juice to the pan or add a little wine. Taste for seasoning, I normally add a little sugar, to help bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes. Let the sauce gently simmer on the lowest hear for an hour or two. The sauce will thicken up, and you will have the perfect tomato sauce for a pizza. If making Pasta sauce add the Basil leaves at the last minute.

This is pretty much the basic recipe for any good tomato sauce.

Next I made the Pizza base

Pizza Base

From Jamie Oliver's book Jamie's Italy

Ingredients:

800g Strong White Floor

200g Semolina flour or more strong bread flour

1 level tablespoon of fine sea salt

2x7g sachets of dried yeast

.....or 30g of fresh yeast

1 tablespoon of golden caster sugar

About 650 ml of tepid water

Pizza Topping

Ingredients:

Pizza Sauce

Basil Leaves

Mozzarella (Cows Milk)

A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

The recipe states it will make 6-8 medium sized thin crust pizzas. I halved the ingredients and made use of some Italian type "00" flour I had. The breakdown of the flours I used was

200g Strong Bread Flour

200g Italian type "00" flour

100g semolina floor.

1. Put the flours and salt in a bowl or on a clean surface. Add the yeast and sugar to the water, leave for a couple of minutes. Then combine the water/yeast mix to the flour, bring it together with a spoon/fork and then your hands, so it becomes one big ball. Make sure it isn't too wet or too dry.

2. Then knead for about 10 minutes or till you have a soft and pliable dough. Flour the top of the dough and add it to the oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave for 15 to 30 minutes.

3. Divide the ball of dough into however many pizzas you want. The dough wants to be rolled out about 15-30 minutes before it goes in the over. If using a pizza stone, sprinkle some semolina flour or regular flour on the stone and it will stop the pizza sticking to it.

4. Once the dough is ready I add a thin layer of tomato sauce, and put it in a pre-heated oven at 220 Celsius/ for about 5 minutes, bring it out, add the basil leaves and then cover them with the mozzarella. For making pizza it is actually best to use cows milk mozzarella because it has less liquid in the cheese compared with the pricier buffalo mozzarella. Add some olive oil to the cheese and then add to the over for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the base has a nice golden colour it.

This is pretty much the classic Neapolitan pizza. This pizza is the epitome of Italian cuisine, 3-4 amazing ingredients, cooked perfectly it makes the sauce, basil and mozzarella the star. Simplicity is the key.

As I had two pizza bases, I made some garlic bread and with the leftover dough, I made a baby calzone.

Next time I will make 3x pizzas and they will fit my pizza stones perfectly. Next time it be a case of squeezing as mush meat as I can onto the pizza. After using an old Pizza recipe from the Italian cookbook The Silver Spoon, it is nice that you don't have to wait 2 or 3 hours for the dough to rise. I think the addition of semolina does make a difference, however it is not critical.

The beer was cold, the rugby was tight and the food was Superb.

Darrell writes an informal blog dedicated To Metallica, Fine Wine & Cake, Cigars, Innovative TV & Cinema. Music With Soul. And a joy of cooking.
at http://tastemeyouwillsee.blogspot.com

T-Fal Cookware - Jamie Oliver's Cookware

Many people know the English chef Jamie Oliver for his successful shows on television- "The Naked Chef" and "Jamie at Home" are two of his more successful cooking shows. Due to his popularity in the cooking world, Jamie has teamed up with T-Fal to create a whole new line of cooking ware. This new line, Jamie Oliver's Cookware by T-Fal boasts new cooking technology, fun colors and is dishwasher safe.

Due to Oliver's success with past cook ware endeavors with T-Fal, they have teamed up again and created a non-stcik, dishwasher safe cookware line. With additional features such as being comprised of clean metal and the T-Fal's thermo spot technology, this line can make sure that beginning and expert cooks alike create a great and tasty dish. Also, with the dishwasher safe cook ware, these Jamie Oliver by T-Fal cookwares ensure a speedy and easy cleanup.

T-Fal is a cookware company known for their great quality and mid-priced home wares. This company is one that everyone can trust and, now with a partner in Oliver, more fans are coming out with great reviews of this cook ware line.

The new line comes in numerous colors perfect for any style kitchen you might have. Also, if your kitchen is mainly comprised of white, this allows for a fun and edgy touch to your kitchen. Also, each line comes with a recipe CD so you can have Oliver directing you in the kitchen with your new Jamie Oliver's Cookware by T-Fal.

Before purchasing your Jamie Oliver's Cookware by T-Fal, it is important to do further research online.

Jamie Oliver pop-up pepper mill

The Flavor Shaker by Jamie Oliver is a really fun way to add great flavor to your food. It is designed to crush, mix, and release flavor from whole spices, herbs, garlic, nuts, citrus rind or even lime or bay leaves. In just a few seconds you can create and add flavor to all kinds of everyday dishes. Simply pop your ingredients inside, add the magic ball and give it a good shake. The ceramic ball does all the work crushing, grinding and bruising the contents, releasing amazing aromas and zingy flavors. You can also add liquids like oil and cream to create delicious dressings and marinades. The Flavor Shaker is sized to give you just the right amount of marinade or dressing (you don't need a lot) so that you can pour the contents straight over your food. Included are some great recipe ideas to get you started and the unique Flavor Shaker spoon, designed especially to fit into the shaker. Top rack dishwasher safe. 6 inches h.

Price: $24.99

Click here to buy from Amazon

Bobby Flay's Boy Gets Grill: 125 Reasons to Light Your Fire!

Sequel to the bestselling Boy Meets Grill, Boy Gets Grill marks Bobby Flay's return to the fire with his first grilling book in five years.

The connection between Flay and fire began when, as a kid growing up in New York City, Bobby learned to grill during trips to the Jersey Shore. As a young chef starting out, he always wanted to work the grill station, and when he opened his first restaurant in 1991, he called it Mesa Grill. The word grill was firmly hooked to his name. And then, the Food Network called.

Like his highly rated prime-time grilling show, Boy Gets Grill is set on a rooftop in Queens overlooking the Manhattan skyline and celebrates the explosive flavors of his hometown's diverse neighborhoods. This is Bobby Flay's New York, and everywhere he goes, there is great grilling: from Chinatown to Astoria, Queens (Greek food); Arthur Avenue in the Bronx (for old-style Italian); and lower Lexington Avenue (better known as Curry Hill, for Indian); and the flavors go on and on.

The question isn't "Can I grill this?" but "Is there a reason not to grill this?" Usually the answer is "Go ahead and try it!" Throughout, Bobby gets more and more out of the grill, making life easier and encouraging everyone to think big, have fun, and get their hands dirty.

The grill is no longer for weekends only. The recipes in Boy Gets Grill are the quickest and easiest that Bobby has ever created, making the grill a perfect vehicle for busy weeknight meals. Flavors are (pleasantly) challenging. For the simplest of suppers, try Grilled Quesadillas with Sliced Steak, Blue Cheese, and Watercress; Grilled Shrimp with Triple Lemon Butter; Grilled Tuna with Red Chile, Allspice, and Orange Glaze; or a Pressed Cuban-Style Burger.

Boy Gets Grill is also full of great ideas for entertaining and enjoying the company of family and friends. In the "Big Parties" section, Bobby takes hosts and hostesses through every step of preparation for a Fish Taco Party, Burger Bar, and a Skewer Party (perfect for backyard cocktail parties where one hand stays free to hold a glass). There are even recipes for brunch on the grill.

The book includes cool drinks to sip while the fire gets hot, as well as appetizers, salads, simple desserts, and, of course, the meats, fish, and poultry that everyone loves to grill. Bobby also gives tips on what equipment you need to grill (and more important, what you don't); six simple (and decidedly low-tech) steps to test for doneness; how to gauge how hot your fire is; and Bobby's Guide to Steak.

Price: $30.00

Click here to buy from Amazon

Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life

Home is where the heart is . . .

This book is very close to my heart. It's about no-nonsense, simple cooking with great flavors all year round. When I began writing it, I didn't really know what recipes I would come up with, but something began to inspire me very quickly . . . my vegetable patch!

I came to realize last year that it's not always about looking out at the wider world for inspiration. Being at home, feeling relaxed and open, can also offer this. I love to spend time at home in the village where I grew up, working with the boss, Mother Nature, in my garden and seeing all my beautiful veggies coming out of the ground.

Inside you'll find over one hundred new recipes, plus some basic planting information and tips if you fancy having a go at getting your hands dirty as well!

Price: $37.50

Click here to buy from Amazon

Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker Mixer

Jamie Oliver's Flavour Shaker is designed to crush, mix, and release flavour from whole spices, herbs, garlic, nuts, citrus rind or even lime or bay leaves. In just a few seconds you can create and add flavour to all kinds of everyday dishes. Simply pop your ingredients inside, add the magic ball and give it a good shake. The ceramic ball does all the work crushing, grinding and bruising the contents, releasing amazing aromas and zingy flavours. You can also add liquids like oil and cream to create delicious dressings and marinades. The Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker is sized to give you just the right amount of marinade or dressing (you don't need a lot) so that you can pour the contents straight over your food. Top rack dishwasher safe. Just follow these four steps and you'll soon see how quick and easy it really is to get great tasting food. Step 1: Add your ingredients, then drop in the ceramic ball. Step 2: Screw the halves together securely. (Make sure that the two little arrows on the grips are correctly aligned and that the sealing ring is in place. You risk damaging the product if you don't.) Step 3: Give it a good shake. Step 4: Open up and pour, scoop or rub on to your food. Each Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker includes a handy color coded silicone spoon designed to fit perfectly into your shaker. No more sticky fingers. Each Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker also includes three great recipes plus some hints to help you get started. Size: 3.5" x 6" x 8.4"

Price:

Click here to buy from Amazon

200 Delicious Italian Recipes

Over 200 Delicious Italian Recipes including; Soups, Minestrone, Beef, Mutton, Veal, Lamb, pasta, lever, Pork, Fowl, Duck, Game, Hare, Rabbit, vegetables, Macaroni, Rice, Omelets Egg dishes, sweets and Cakes.

Price: $0.99

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Real Fast Food: 350 Recipes Ready-to-Eat in 30 Minutes

Featuring a new introduction by Nigella Lawson

Nigel Slater, the bestselling author of Toast, is one of the world's most accomplished food writers. Winner of six Glenfiddich Awards for his food writing and shortlisted for the prestigious Andre Simon prize for this book, he has had an enduring effect on cooking and helped bring to prominence a new generation of British chefs, including, Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson. His down-to-earth style and infectious enthusiasm has won him a loyal following both here and in the UK, where Real Food Fast has sold over a million copies.

Imagine shredded basil leaves stirred into buttery mashed potatoes and a slice of pork pan-fried with fennel, followed by a juicy sliced white peach dropped into chilled white wine. That's Nigel Slater's fast food! Real Fast Food is an inspirational collection of 350 enticing recipes with simple techniques and assertive flavors that can be completed in less than thirty minutes. It's the ultimate modern-day cookbook, filled with recipes for everyone who enjoys good, unpretentious food.

"Nigel is a genius!"--Jamie Oliver, author of The Naked Chef

"No one has their finger so firmly on the pulse of modern cooking."--Time Out

Price: $17.95

Click here to buy from Amazon

Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals

Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals
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Price: $35.00

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What's Cooking? With Jamie Oliver

What's Cooking? with Jamie Oliver walks players through virtual and real-life cooking situations, from shopping to chopping, dressing the dish to serving up meals. The portability of Nintendo DS means Jamie Oliver is with you every step of the way to offer help and inspiration at the supermarket, in the kitchen, on the barbecue or wherever you feel like cooking up a storm. Try your hand at some delicious real cooking with the interactive cookbook, stuffed with 100 original Jamie Oliver recipes, mouth-watering photography by David Loftus of the quality we’ve come to expect from Jamie’s books, and featuring voice recognition leaving hands free to concentrate on the cooking. The interactive shopping list automatically saves ingredients from chosen recipes (either Jamie Oliver’s or your own creations) and organizes them by food type making trips to the supermarket a breeze. You can add any other items you want to the list using the keypad or text recognition.

Price: $19.99

Click here to buy from Amazon