Ice cream and sorbet can be the perfect red white and blue dessert. Image from Flickr.

Fourth of July recipes can be a challenge. A good fourth of July recipe should be easy to make, incredibly tasty and have an element of fun. If it can be made red, white and blue, that’s even better. So what could be better for the Fourth of July than ice cream and sorbet?

The basics of frozen desserts

Frozen desserts, ice cream and sorbet alike, can be practically perfect Fourth of July barbecue desserts. To make a frozen dessert, you need to take a basic mixture of ingredients and freeze it while agitating it. Mixing the ingredients with air while you freeze it keeps the dessert light and edible. There are several ways to freeze ice cream. First, you can do the picnic-friendly double can method – take a small coffee can, fill it with the dessert mixture, and tape it closed. Put the small can inside a larger can filled with ice and rock salt, tape the whole thing closed, and kick it around until the ice is very close to melted. There are also hand-crank, soccer-ball shaped and electric ice cream makers.

Red: Fourth of July strawberry sorbet

Strawberry sorbet may sound like the simplest dessert, but you can make it much more fancy. Blend in a blender or food processor:
1 pound of cut and hulled strawberries
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 sprigs fresh basil or mint
Then freeze and enjoy!

White: Fourth of July ice cream

A basic vanilla, mint, or even almond ice cream can be an amazing white dessert for the Fourth of July. Combine:
2 cups half and half
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flavor extract – vanilla bean, mint or almond.
Combine, freeze and enjoy!

Blue: Fourth of July blueberry sorbet

If you love berries, then Fourth of July is the perfect time to try out a blue sorbet. In a blender or food processor, combine:
2 pints blueberries
1 pint blackberries or huckleberries
1/2 cup agave nectar or 1 cup simple syrup
Then freeze, scoop, and enjoy!

These recipes, of course, are just suggestions. You can combine, blend and love just about any kind of fruit, sugar, and flavoring to create fun kinds of desserts. No matter what, remember to enjoy the Fourth of July!

Despite their popularity, pancakes have serious disadvantages as a camping breakfast. Image from Flickr.

Whether you’ve been camping for years or are using Memorial Day as an excuse for camping the first time, camp cooking can be one of the best — or worst — parts of the trip. With a little bit of planning and thought, camp cooking can be not only easy, but fun.

Strategy for camp cooking breakfast

Usually, a camp-cooking breakfast has a few criteria to make it awesome. First, it shouldn’t take much brain power. Second, it should be filling and incredibly tasty. Third, it should be something that is done all at once – things like pancakes leave people wanting more and waiting on the cook. The real secret to a good camp cooking breakfast – just like finding the best payday loans – is to make it in two stages. As soon as you get up for the morning, use a camp stove or a single-use burner to get hot water going. Use that hot water to make coffee, tea, hot cocoa – whatever your morning drink of choice is.

A breakfast scramble – camp cooking at its best

Once you’ve been fueled with warm drinks, you can get going on your real camp breakfast. A scramble is one of the best camp breakfasts, because it gives you a chance to use up all the ingredients you might have sitting in your cooler. First, dice up onions, potatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms – just about any vegetable you have sitting around – and bacon or sausage. If you would like, you can dice them all at home and just dump them into the pot while you’re still half-asleep. Cook them all in a pan until they’re done, then mix in eggs and cheese. Scramble until it’s all mixed together, throw some cheese on top, and breakfast is done. Great eaten hot, cold with condiments, or by itself. Instead of bacon or sausage, a scramble is also a great place to use that fish you may have caught the night before.

Gravy up your camp breakfast recipe

One of the quickest, easiest and most flexible camp breakfast recipes is gravy. It may sound simple, but give it a try. Start with bacon, sausage, or just about any other type of meat. Cook it in your pan, maybe with some butter or oil. Once it’s done, stir it up with some flour, then add milk or broth with pepper, salt, and spices. Let the gravy thicken and bubble on your stove or campfire while you cook up potatoes or toast. Or just throw pre-cooked rice directly into the gravy. If you want to get all fancy, pull out some dry baking-powder biscuits you made at home. Gravy on top of just about anything makes the perfect camp breakfast.

Preparing a Food Network recipe. Photo from Flickr.

I really love to cook. Between my obsession with good food and good TV, my day was made when it was announced that Food Network recipes are now available on their mobile site http://www.foodnetwork.mobi, as well as on foodnetwork.com. The problem with this, though, is the fact that Food Network recipes are so varied and wonderful, I realized I would practically have to take out a payday loan every time I went grocery shopping. The best way to put Food Network recipes to use and still be able to pay your bills is simple – plan.

Know your Food Network recipes

First of all, know what you’re thinking about making. You don’t have to watch the Food Network for hours and hours on end just to find a recipe that sounds good, just have an idea. Identify an ingredient, a style, or even a Food Network star that has recipes you love. The Food Network recipe database is huge – so having an idea of what you want will help you narrow things down quickly.

Plan ahead for your recipes

We’ve all done it – seen a recipe or dish or dinner on Food Network that looked so scrumptious that you just had to go out and make it that night. After a few nights of this, however, your food budget is likely to require a credit card. Instead, take some time before you go shopping to plan out a week or two’s worth of meals. Sure, it might mean you spend all of Saturday watching Alton Brown, The Neeleys, Paula Deen, and Rachel Ray for inspiration, but is that really so bad? Once you’ve got a working list, shop for those recipe ingredients. Then stick to the list!

Searching the Food Network recipes database

The Food Network website – mobile or full screen – has several ways you can search for your recipe. You can search by featured items, price, star, or ingredient. If you’re looking for a recipe featured on a particular show, try clicking on that star’s show to get a list of their recent recipes. If you just know that you have a ton of chicken in the fridge you need to use, try their Quick Meals search. If you would love to find a Food Network recipe that will make use of that amazing Farmer’s Market down the street, their “In Season Now” search section is ideal.

Not every Food Network recipe is available

There are some shows on the Food Network that, unfortunately, don’t share their secrets. I am a huge fan of Iron Chef and Iron Chef America. While I wouldn’t necessarily be interested in recipes like salmon ice cream, there are some dishes I would give anything to get the recipe for. Ultimate Recipe Showdown, Throwdown With Bobby Flay, Dinner Impossible, and The Next Food Network Star all have dishes that look incredibly tasty, but you just can’t get their recipes online. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t give the recipes a shot. Watch the shows carefully – usually, the commentary will include most, if not all ingredients that went into the dish, their order, and even how they are prepared. Take lots of notes, and use your own Food Network recipe sensibility to re-create your best version of that dish.

Image from Flickr.

People tend to get very stressed out during the holidays. From mid-November to January, the ringleaders of families or groups of friends often appear tightly wound and overworked. If you’re the one saddled with hosting, planning and making Thanksgiving dinner this year, it doesn’t have to be that way.

The key to having a low-stress Thanksgiving is knowing “perfect” is a relative term. Realize in advance that everything will not fit the textbook definition of perfect. If you’ve got food and people at the table, you’re in good shape. Don’t get caught up in the details. Remember that Thanksgiving is remember what we’re grateful for, not being upset about things that don’t go as planned.

There are a few other things you can do this weekend to help things goes smoothly.

Plan your menu

A little planning today will save you a lot of stress next weekend and in the days just before Thanksgiving. As you’re planning out your meal, make sure you take cost into account so you don’t end up needing online cash loans at the last minute to pay for food. This weekend, sit down and plan your menu. If you have others contributing, call them to confirm what they’re bringing.

Find recipes for all the dishes you plan to make. Print them out and make a shopping list so that next weekend you are ready to hit the grocery store. Make sure you check your kitchen for the stuff you already have. Think carefully about kitchenware that you’ll need so if you have to buy a whisk or a turkey pan or a serving dish, you can get all of the food at extras at the same time.

Get your RSVPs

Make sure you know how many people are coming to your dinner, as this is crucial to planning your menu. However, I recommend making extra food for two reasons:

1. Leftovers are awesome
2. It will keep you from stressing out in the event of unexpected guests

My family and friends are the type of people who would invite the UPS delivery person in for a slice of turkey. If you make extras, you can open your home to people who happen by and share the warmth of your celebration and your food without feeling added pressure. If you end up with the expected amount of guests or fewer, keep the leftovers, and that’s a few more days when you won’t have to cook.

Image from Flickr.

Maybe you went a little overboard buying Halloween candy this year. Or maybe you have overzealous kids who brought home so much candy, you’re afraid you’ll be offering people cash now to take it or serving it at your New Year’s Eve party.

Even if you don’t have extra Halloween candy, but you have a lot, what’s wrong with taking something delicious and making it even more delicious? Bakers are always looking for great ides for new sweet treats to delight their family and friends. After all, that prepackaged candy will still be good at Thanksgiving! Maybe this year you can serve something a little more creative than pumpkin pie.

Here are some great leftover Halloween candy recipes from CDKitchen:

Bit-O-Honey Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake

Five 1.7 oz Bit-O-Honey Bars
One cup canola oil
Four eggs
15-oz can pure pumpkin
One cup sugar
Two tsp. ground cinnamon
Three-fourths tsp. ground cloves
One tsp. ground allspice
One-fourth tsp. ground ginger
One-half tsp. ground nutmeg
One-fourth tsp. salt
Two tsp. baking powder
One tsp. baking soda
Two cups all-purpose flour

Cream Cheese Frosting
Eight oz cream cheese, room temperature
Two 2 oz butter
One tsp. vanilla
Four cups confectioners’ sugar
Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Freeze five Bit-O-Honey Bars for 10 minutes, then use a food processor to chop candy bars coarsely and set aside. Get a large mixing bowl, combine the oil and eggs and mix with an electric mixer for 30 seconds on high. Add pumpkin, sugar and all of the spices: cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Mix with electric mixer on medium for one minute. Add  baking powder, baking soda and flour. Mix on low for 30 seconds. Mix in the chopped candy bars with a spatula or big spoon.

Pour the batter into 13- by-9-inch pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 25 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

For the cream cheese frosting: In a large mixing bowl, use the electric mixer to beat together the cream cheese and butter. Mix for about three minutes or until mixture appears soft and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla, then add the confectioners’ sugar. Beat until the sugar is thoroughly mixed in.

Spread frosting over cooled pumpkin cake and cut into bars.

Candy Bar Cheese Cake

Ingredients

Three TB butter, melted
One and one-fourth cups graham cracker crumbs
One TB white sugar
Three 8-oz packages cream cheese
Three eggs
Three-fourths cup white sugar
Two tsp. vanilla extract
Two full-size, chopped up candy bars (can be chocolate, caramel, nuts, nougat)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs and 1 TB sugar in small bowl. In a nine- inch springform pan, press the mixture to for a crust, and put it in the oven for 10 minutes.

Cream together three-fourths of a cup of sugar and three packages of cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well. Stir in chopped candy bar. After crust is cool, pour in mixture. Bake 45 minutes.

Toffee Angel Food Dessert

Ingredients

One 8-inch angel food cake cut into cubes
Three-fourths cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
8 oz soft cream cheese
Half a cup of chocolate syrup
Two TB  sugar
Two cups whipped topping
Two candy bars, Heath or other chocolate covered toffee
Extra chocolate, toffee candy bar for garnish

Directions

Place angel food cake cubes into ungreased nine-inch baking pan. Add coffee and toss. In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, chocolate syrup and sugar. Fold in whipped topping and spread the mixture over cake and coffee mixture. Sprinkle crushed Heath bars om top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour or more.

Image from Flickr.

The time has come to start baking up Halloween goodies, and I have found some great Halloween cupcakes decorating ideas for you. After all, a Halloween cupcake is not a Halloween cupcake without the proper decor.

Lots of creepy creatures, like bats and worms, make great cupcake toppers. Of course, you can try my favorite, Halloween spider cupcakes. Or why not go with death-themed cupcakes that feature tombstones? There are plenty of great Halloween cupcakes decorating ideas out there.

Halloween cupcakes decorating ideas

The easiest way to turn a regular cupcake into a Halloween cupcake is to get a black tube of frosting and draw a bat, spider, tombstone or any other Halloween character you choose on top of white frosting. You won’t need fast cash loans to complete this idea, as it’s pretty inexpensive.

Another cool idea is to use gummy worms. With these Halloween cupcakes decorating ideas, you can create something delicious and gross at the same time. Now that you’ve got some Halloween cupcakes decorating ideas, what to put them on? Here are some great recipes I collected from a few different recipe sites.

Devil’s Food Cupcakes

What could be more appropriate for Halloween than Devil’s Food Cake? Martha Stewart says this recipe that includes sour cream makes the cupcakes deliciously moist and just slightly tangy. Sounds delicious.

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup hot water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp coarse salt
3 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 TB plus 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, room temperature

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk cocoa and hot water until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a saucepan on medium-low heat, melt butter with sugar and stir. Pour into a mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat until mixture is cooled. It will probably take four or five minutes on medium-low speed. Add eggs, beating each in one at a time. Beat in vanilla and cocoa mixture. Use low speed to add flour mixture gradually, and add the sour cream halfway through.
Pour the batter into paper baking cups in muffin tin. Halfway through baking, rotate tins, bake about 20 minutes and test doneness with toothpick. Let cool completely before decorating. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature.

Caramel Mudcake Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients
3½ ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
4½ ounces butter, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup brown sugar
¼ cup golden syrup
2/3 cup milk
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup self-raising flour
1 egg

Directions
Preheat the oven to 330. In a saucepan on low heat, combine chocolate, butter, sugar, syrup and milk. Stir until melted. Let it cool for about 15 minutes while you sift the flours. When mixture is cooled, mix in flours. Lightly beat the egg an stir it in. line muffin tins with paper baking cups ad add batter. Bake 30 minutes.

Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
7 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 325. Use the paddle attachment in an electric mixing bowl on high speed to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. It should take about 5 minutes. Switch mixer to low speed and add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and almond extracts. Mix well.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually add the dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the coconut. Bake in cupcake pan with paper liners for 25 to 35 minutes, until tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Breakfast potatoes! Image from openphoto.net.

A propitious esculent, quite simply, is a potato. The potato is one of the least expensive and most versatile foods in the world. Potatoes were a form of debt survival during the Depression in the U.S. and a staple food for poor families in other countries throughout history.

Author John Reader last year released a book called “Propitious Esculent: The Potato in World History.” One review on Amazon says the book “Propitious Esculent” is an “impressively researched account.” So if you want to know all there is to know about the potato, check it out.

Tasty and tubular

To honor the propitious esculent for providing families with inexpensive food for so long, I looked up some great potato recipes to show how many creative ways you can  use a potato.

Irish Potato and Apple Pudding

Ingredients:

6 ounces mashed potatoes
5 medium baking apples, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons butter, melted
8 ounces self-raising flour
4 tablespoons Milk
Brown sugar or white sugar
2 whole cloves
Juice of half a lemon
3 tablespoons cider

Directions:

Stir melted butter into warm mashed potatoes. Add pinch of salt and flour. Mix well. Add enough milk to make a soft dough. Roll out potato dough and line a one quart bowl with part of it. Set aside enough dough for the top of the pudding.

Fill dough with the sliced apples, sweetened to taste with the sugar. Add  whole cloves, lemon juice and cider. Dampen potato pastry edges, lay on the top and press down.

Cover with foil. Steam or cook (set in a pan of boiling water up to the rim) for two to two and half hours. Cut pudding in wedges. Serve with cream or custard.

Greek Potato Salad

4 medium peeled potatoes, cut into half-inch chunks
8 oz green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
3/4 c. buttermilk
2 TB extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 TB fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
Large cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, thinly sliced
1 c. cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 medium red onion, halved, thinly sliced
1/4 c. snipped fresh dill
4 oz crumbled feta cheese

Boil salted water in a large pot and simmer potatoes for 12 – 15 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add green beans. Cook 2 more minutes. Drain.

Combine buttermilk, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt in a large bowl. Add potatoes and green beans. Toss gently to coat. Add cucumber, tomatoes, red onion and dill; toss gently. Let cool to room temperature. Serve at room temperature, or cover and refrigerate before serving. Garnish with feta cheese.

Indian Potato Curry with Tomato

2 small potatoes
1 tomato
1 small onion
half a fresh, hot green chili
2 TB vegetable oil
1/4 tsp mustard/cumin/sesame seed mixture
1 dried hot pepper
2 TB cilantro
half a garlic clove
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cumin/coriander powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp masala

1/4 cup fresh or dry unsweetened coconut
Peel potatoes and simmer in a small saucepan until soft. Chop potatoes.
Chop and mix together tomato, onion and chili.

Heat vegetable oil, mustard/cumin/sesame seed mixture, dried hot pepper, chopped cilantro and diced garlic. When seeds pop, add tomato mixture cumin/coriander powder, tumeric, salt and masala. Add potatoes and lemon juice; toss gently.

Turn off heat and add more cilantro and coconut. Add water to make gravy.