Fresh fruits and vegetables are always recommended for healthy diet. But how many people do you think like to eat only fruits and vegetables? Not many, I suppose. When we eat the same old boring fruits everyday we tend to lose interest in eating them. This is why we need to try something new with the fruits so that they become interesting.

Check out some tasty as well as healthy recipes for the fruits of the season. You can even create some recipes out of a number of fruits available in a particular season. So just go for it and make the fruits loveable.

Spiced Winter Fruit

Ingredients:

Pink large grapefruit – 2
Dried figs which are cut into quarters – 1/3 cup
Pitted prunes small – 1/3 cup
Brown sugar light – 3 tbsp
Cinnamon 3 inches – 1 stick
Whole cloves – 7
Red grapes seedless and halved – 1 cup

The Method:

First of all you need to peel and make sections of the grapefruit in a bowl. Then squeeze it to extract the juice. Keep the sections away and reserve the juice by adding water to it. Add enough water to make it 1 and half cups.

Now add the prunes, cloves, cinnamon, sugar and figs to the juice and bring it to boil in a saucepan. Simmer it for 5 minutes by reducing the heat and stir the mixture occasionally. Remove the saucepan from heat and let the mixture cool down. Get rid of the cinnamon and cloves sticks. Put the grapefruit sections and some grapes in the mixture and stir. Serve it hot or cool as preferred.

Mixed Fruit Parfaits

Ingredients:

Nonfat vanilla yogurt – 1 cup
Chopped cantaloupe – 1/3 cup
Almond extract – 1/8 teaspoon
Strawberries chopped – 1/3 cup
Sliced and toasted almond – 2 tbsp
Chopped kiwifruit – 1/3 cup

The Method:

First you need to mix the almond extract with the yogurt. Now you need to create alternate layers of ¼ cup yogurt mixture and fruits in 2 different goblets. The layers must begin and end with the fruits. Finally you need to top it with the almonds. You can take this fruity treat either for snacks, breakfast or even desserts.

Both the recipes are easy and can completed fast. You require minimum ingredients for them but still they can become tasty. If you are on a fruit diet for a few days then you can surely take up these recipes and change your taste. Follow the direction well to get the desired taste and enjoy.

One of the most popular Chinese chicken dishes is Lemon Chicken. It’s delicate flavor and taste is a treat for anyone’s taste buds! However, not too many people are fond of it, it takes a connoisseur of food to actually appreciate lemon chicken for what it is – an exotic, mouth watering dish! I have often thought wistfully of making it at home but the perfect recipe eluded me, but a Chinese friend of mine was kind enough to give me her family recipe, and here I am, sharing it with you! Enjoy!

Ingredients

Lemon juice – ½ cup
Thinly sliced lemons – 2
Lemon peel, grated – 2tbsp
Chicken – 4 to 5 pounds
Fresh parsley, chopped – ½ cup
Crushed cloves of garlic – 2
Thyme, dried – 2 tbsp
Melted butter – 1/4th cup
Salt – 1 and ½ tsp
Freshly ground black pepper – 1 tsp

Method:

Prepare the chicken by washing thoroughly and then patting dry. Put the chicken pieces in an appropriately sized, shallow dish, in a single layer.

Put in the lemon peel, lemon juice, salt, thyme and pepper into an appropriately sized bowl. Then, spoon this mixture onto the chicken and coat thoroughly. Let the chicken marinate in this mixture for three or four hours in a refrigerator. A tip for coating – you can turn the pieces around several times to get the job done.

Then, remove the chicken from marinade mixture and drain off, but do preserve the marinade. Put the chicken pieces into a shallow baking dish, having a capacity of two quarts. Then brush the chicken with some melted butter. Bake these pieces for about twenty five minutes at 425 degrees and then put some of the reserved marinade onto the chicken and bake for thirty minutes more and keep basting while you are at it. Ensure that by the end of it, the chicken has been thoroughly cooked through and is brown.

Garnish the chicken with the lemon slices and the parsley. Boil the last of the marinade (for about a minute) and sprinkle on the chicken pieces just prior to serving. Or, you may even serve it on the side, as gravy.

Combine this with noodles, preferably pan fried noodles or cooked fried rice and your yummy Chinese meal is ready!

Chinese cuisine at home is not really that tough, you just have to know all the modern twists to add to the recipes, good luck!

Those households, which need remodeling, can use the idea of using soffits to top cabinets, recess lighting so as to highlight the kitchen design. The words soffit has been derived from the French word “soffite” and Italian word “soffito”. It is a extra architectural construction used to cover up the underside of a roof or a ceiling of a room.

Modern kitchens with high ceilings, ceiling with a lot of outward pipes running through it, all uses soffits to make the kitchen design look beautiful. Soffit is a form of false ceiling used to rectify certain faults in your kitchen and to increase the ambience in your kitchen.

Soffit adds dimensions to your kitchen to make it look different from any other areas of the house. You can create your own designs, whether geometric or abstract to decorate the soffit or paint a landscape to hang above the kitchen stuff. Those kitchens with high ceilings can take the help of soffits, which is usually hung above the cabinets of the kitchen.

Recess lighting can also be added to the soffit, if you extent it outward from your cabinet, you will get ample lighting in your workspace. Soffits can be only used in cabinets which do not really have any sort of display racks. If you add a soffit to the open upper portion of your cabinet, it is going to prevent the accumulation of grease, over the years on the open space of the cabinet.

You can also make a duct, from the range hood to go through the ceiling, invisible with the help of a soffit. Soffits can be used to put recess lights which help you to highlight your kitchen cabinets. Recess lights will highlight every minute detail of your kitchen cabinets. With the help of soffits, you can also have rope lights, shine on the kitchen ceiling, which dramatically increases the ambience of your kitchen.

Soffits can be made of woods having dry walls on the bottom. You can use the soffit as a place to keep all of your collectables. By having areas in your showcase covered in glass and frames made of the same material as your cabinet. You can construct a soffit over the breakfast area or even the eating area, so that you can make the area of the kitchen look very warm and also very homely.

Appetizers are important to stimulate the appetite before the main course food. You can make lots of appetizers from different kinds of ingredients. You just need to mix the right ingredients with each other. Appetizers are allowed in a small quantity so that the desire for eating gets stronger. It is important to learn how to cook the appetizers. Here are some recipes of appetizers which you can surely try at home.

Crab Artichoke Tarts

Ingredients:

Flour – 2 tbsp
Pepper – 1/8 tsp
Chopped and roasted bell pepper – ¼ cup
Whole thyme dried – 1/8 tsp
Carton egg substitute – 4 oz
Artichoke hearts chopped and drained – 14 oz can
Wonton wrappers – 32
Nonstick cooking spray
Dried chives – 3 tbsp
Crabmeat drained – 6 oz can
Parmesan cheese – 6 tbsp

The Method

You need to combine the ingredients in a bowl and stir it well. Take mini muffin tins and spray it with the nonstick cooking spray and then use wonton wrapper to cover the muffin cups. The wrapper must extent above the cup. The crabmeat mixture should be divided among the wontons equally and then sprinkle some chives and cheese. Now you need to bake the mixture in the microwave at 350 degrees F for at least 20 minutes till the wrapper gets a little brown.

Herbed Yogurt Cheese

Ingredients:

Normal plain yogurt nonfat – 2 cups
Dillweed – 1 tbsp
Non fat mayonnaise – ¼ cup
Garlic powder – 1 tsp
Black pepper freshly ground – ¼ tsp
Onion powder – 1 tsp

The Method:

First of all you need to combine all the ingredients mentioned above and mix them unless they blend well. Now you need to take a large strainer and place that over a large sized bowl. Use a strainer which has double thickness. Take the yogurt mixture and fill the strainer. Now you need to cover the mixture of yogurt by pulling the corner of the cheesecloth.

Take the mixture and put it inside the fridge and keep it for at least 1 to 2 days. Take it out once the liquid gets drained out and the mixture becomes spreadable. You can use this spread for vegetables chips as well as crackers or even a spread for sandwich. It can serve at least 20 people together.

These are diet recipes which are meant for people who are on strict diet. These appetizers will surely make your feel hungrier till the main course arrives. Try the recipes at home and give a surprise to your beloved or your family.

Are you on a diet? Want to slim down just before the marriage? Get some yummy vegetarian diet recipes to help you during times of great hunger. Lots of people are not interested in a vegetarian diet because they do not believe that these recipes can also be mouth watering. But if you can do it the right way with the right ingredients then you will surely love it. Here is one of the veggie recipes to change your taste.

Ingredients

virgin olive oil – 2 tablespoon.
Garlic peeled – 3 cloves
Onion cut into dices – 1
Zest and juice of limes – 2
Fresh red chilies sliced and seeded – 2
Ground cumin – 2 and half teaspoon
Chipotle chile powder – ¼ teaspoon
Jasmine rice uncooked – 1 cup
Plain yogurt non-fat – 6tbsp
Vegetable broth – 6 cups
Fresh cilantro roughly chopped and steamed – 1 bunch
Pumpkin seeds shelled and toasted – ½ cup
Salt and pepper
Black beans – 14-ounce can – 1

The Method

1. Heat the oil in medium heat in a stockpot. Add onions to it and sauté it till the onion becomes soft. Make sure they do not turn brown. After this remove the stockpot from heat.

2. Take a blender jar or even a food processor bowl. In that add half the onions garlic, cumin, lime zest, chili powder, half cilantro and the chipotle powder. Process the mixture until it becomes smooth.

3. Put the stockpot again on medium heat and add the paste that you have made out of the spices. Stir the paste until you get a light fragrance. Add the vegetable broth and let it boil and after that add the rice and stir. Reduce the heat and cover the stockpot. Cook it for at least 20 minutes till the rice becomes soft.

4. Add the pumpkin puree in the pot and stir. After this, add the black beans, the remaining cilantro and lime juice one tablespoon one by one. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer for at least 15 to 20 minutes. You can add some more lemon juice for taste if you want.

5. Before you serve the food make sure you make the soup thin with some water or broth. Serve it just after the cooking gets over. You can garnish the soup with yogurt or sour cream. You can even add some toasted seeds of pumpkin.

This yummy soup can always be a great vegetarian treat which is good to taste and good for health.