Let’s Celebrate World bar-b-que Day With Some Amazing Food

4^th July is known as world BBQ day and each one of us grab our grills, BBQ stations, ovens etc and head straight out. This is the perfect way to celebrate summer. I cannot think of even a single thing which I do not like about summers. The flowers, beaches, food, colors etc. This all takes my breath away. Kids love the summers too.

Bar-Be-Que which is also known as BBQ is basically a slow cooking method which has been with us from 20 BC. That was the only way earlier people use to cook. The cooking process was really slow (at times up to 18 hours) but the outcome was amazing. Traditionally BBQ included the whole piece of protein (pork, buffalo and sometime chicken etc.) kept over the grill. They custom was to use wood while BBQ’ing the meat.

Now a days, due to time and resource constrain people are using coal and electric BBQ’s. However, thinking that anyone can BBQ the meat is wrong. Most of the novices think that they will rub whatever on the meat and put it on the fire and throw a summer BBQ party doesn’t understand the science involved behind it. Most of them, end up with dry and chewy piece of meat.

Lots of countries also hold the best BBQ championship annually. Only 3.6% women participate in the competition in USA. I guess, BBQ is more of a man thing. Women are great cook but standing in front the charcoals is perhaps not their cup of tea. Even in my childhood, I have never seen my mother initiating a BBQ by herself. It was always my father who use to make Sunday BBQ for us.

When it comes to my favorite food, I really like BBQ pulled pork recipe because I really like the succulent piece of pork with all the charcoal flavors in it. Personally, I can have that every day for forever. My neighbors use to serve it with boiled rice and their kids are really happy to have it like that.

Pulled pork goes very well with hotdog bun, boiled rice, corn bread and Indian bread. While doing the preparation for pulled pork, one must pay attention to the rub they are using. Rub is the essence of good pulled pork. My father use to say that using just plain oil spoils the pork. One must use proper seasoning and these days market is filled with stock cubes, they are the perfect companion while BBQ’ing.

At last, just remember the golden rule never cook your pork on the high heat. Give it time and let it cook slowly because the juices which you get from the slow cooked meat is worth every minute of wait. Do comment and let me know what are you cooking on the world BBQ day and do share some pictures of your outing as well. Happy BBQ’ing.

Let’s Explore Different Culture, let’s Cook Something Mexican Tonight

I love exploring the culture of different countries. It gives me lots of vision as well as knowledge about the world. I read a lot of different countries and their food online whenever I get time. I really like Indian and Italian cuisine because in both the culinary world, they give importance to spices and vegetables.

I have learned lots of Indian dishes from my friend Neha. I think, I have told you about her in my earlier post as well. The other day only, I was sitting with her and poking her to teach me how to cook an Indian desert called- Gajar ka Halwa. In return, she asked me to teach her some Mexican dish.

After telling her how to cook some of the Mexican food, I thought of dedicating this post to her… J. Thank you for being in my friend neha. This one is for you.

So, let me share this Mexican soup recipe with you all which is easy to cook and delicious to eat. This is my favorite soup and today I will be sharing tortilla soup recipe with you all. There are so many alterations which one can make to this soup recipe. It is a soup which can be served cold and hot, both ways. This soup has crunchiness and I have seen so many people who like to have this soup very hot. 

The recipe for this soup is-

 Ingredients:

• 1 kg of fire roasted tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic (peeled and crushed)
• 1 ½ tbsp. of cilantro (try and get it fresh)
• ½ tbsp. of sugar
• 10 cups chicken stock (I use knorr stock cubes for making chicken stock)
• 1 kg of chicken (boneless chicken breast pieces)
• Rice
• Tortilla chips
• 2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

Introduce Health to Your Kitchen by Introduction Margarine in Your Kitchen

Are you also the part of butter vs. margarine debate? I am convinced that margarine is a healthier substitute of butter and one must not consume too much butter in their day to day life. Rather, they should look for healthier alternatives of butter and live healthy.

It is not very difficult to start leading a healthy life. Making a small switch from butter to margarine is an easy and effective way to cut back saturated fats from your daily life. We use butter on regular basis as a bread spread, for cooking, for baking etc. In a research, it was shown that by simply replacing butter with margarine one could save their body with whopping 3 kilos of bad fat per year. Isn’t this amazing?

If your family can’t get use to the idea of using margarine instead of butter, slowly introduce them to this healthy margarine. Lots of bakers, swears by the taste of margarine in their baked goods. These days market is filled with the option of gluten free margarine, one can also use them.

Margarines is now available in different flavors and one can pick them as per their need. It not only taste great as a bread spread but it is also great for cooking. Most of the margarines contains less saturated fats and in some of the country’s margarine contains maximum of 15% of fat.

Most of the people like to opt for the canola based margarines because they comprehend healthy essential fatty acids such as ALA and omega 6. However it is always recommended to choose margarine tub over margarine sticks because the more liquidity the margarine is, the healthier it would be.

Some of the health benefits of margarine are-

• They are very rich in vitamin A & vitamin D. Both these vitamins are very essential for our body.
• Margarine are very rich in omega-3 & Omega-6 acids. These acids are very necessary for our body.
• It is lighter for baking and gives a better taste to the food.

Lots of doctors are also advising the people to incorporate margarine in their regular diet in order to live healthy and maintain lean body. The debate of butter vs. margarine can go on forever, but at the end of the day one must take a right decision towards their health.

Besides eating healthy, one must indulge themselves in physical activities and outdoor games. If you do not get time during the week due to the hectic office schedule, make sure that you are dedicating your weekend to the fitness.

Lastly, I would just like to say that I don’t think margarine is unhealthy. Science has proven this time and again. Enjoy your life and eat healthy!!

Easy Pork Chops Recipe – Pineapple Pork Chops

Everyone I meet or have met likes to eat pork chops but at the same time, everyone has different recipe for it. I mean I can’t even tell you how many version I have seen of this simple pork chops. People cook them in everything possible- whiskey, cheese, okra etc.

The flavors of pork chops are such that it goes well with everything. You can simply grill it, or you can pressure cook it. Cooking easy pork chop recipe i think is not very difficult. All you have to do is to make up your mind about whether you want to grill it, cook it, put them in slow cooker etc. Once you know what you are looking for you can find the recipes easily.

To show the versatility of this amazing food, let’s cook pork chops in a little different style, let’s cook pineapple pork chops-

Ingredients:

• 4 pork chops loin (4 racks)
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tin of canned pineapple (drained and cut in chunks)
• Salt & pepper (as per taste)
• 2 tbsp. of vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
• ½ tbsp. of brown sugar
• 1 can of yams (drained and cut in chunks)

Method:

1. Take a bowl and combine flour, salt & pepper. Coat the pork chops nicely. If you like to have a crispy pork chops than you can repeat the coating twice with the egg coating. Give them the resting time for about 10-15 minutes.
2. Now, take a heavy base pan and heat vegetable oil on the medium-high heat. Once, the oil is warm, cook the pork chops for about 6-7 minutes each side. Make sure that you do not dark brown them. They should be light brown in color. 
3. In another bowl, squeeze the pineapples (make sure that you are not making the puree of them) to take some juice out of them. Mix this juice with brown sugar and cinnamon powder.
4. Add this mixture over cooked pork chops and give a very nice stir. Make sure that the sauce is coated all over the pork chops. Cook this for about 2-3 minutes.
5. Now, add yam and stir. Let this cook for about 15-17 minutes with lid closed.
6. Serve hot with sticky rice.

Source: http://www.webmd.com

If you have kids at home, they will love this recipe because they like the sweet and sour combination in the dishes. My kids literally lick the plates whenever I cook this dish. It is actually to fun to create pork chops like this because most of us grill and eat them.

Top 5 Healthy Chili Recipes that You can Try even in Summers

Summers are here and it’s essential to have something refreshing and cool, something which can beat the heat. Here in California nights are usually cold if compared to sunny day time and at times its really chilling. So it is important to have something soothing and appetizing for dinner.

Chili recipes are usually considered as a winter food because of its warmth and heat which keeps us warm during the cold weather. But what if you want to have chili recipe in summers, it’s not crime – right! Anyways after a long, tiring day at beach when you return home your family definitely look for something refreshing yet satisfying.

A chili recipe is a healthy recipe that we all know; you can easily make a nice warm bowl of chili especially on a rainy day. This recipe is so comforting that it actually relax your senses and also helps you to have a good sleep. At time, kids are allergic to beans or some people have the gastric issues having beans and spices, for them it is always advisable to have no-bean chili recipe.

In today’s post I will share 5 chili recipe that you can make in summers; it includes a vegan chili recipe, a no-bean chili recipe, vegetarian chili recipe and more. These recipes are not just healthy but are easy to make and scrumptious too.

Summers are here along with barbecuing, enjoying at beaches, having get together outdoors it’s important to hydrate your body and also not to forget to apply some suntan lotion before you go outside. Drink plenty of water and fruit juices and eat healthy. Nevertheless, let’s jot down the recipes – 

Easy and Healthy Shrimp Recipe: Omelette

Shrimp recipes are always healthy! It’s rich in protein, tasty and got no fats in it. I personally enjoy shrimps a lot; it’s a versatile seafood and can be cooked in many ways. Moreover it’s healthy so it becomes quite an obvious meal in your family.

Shrimp may look like a tiny seafood; in fact it is considered as an insect in the sea. But don’t go on its size because it’s healthy. Shrimp has low-fat and low-calorie protein, i.e. a 4 ounce serving of shrimp provides 23.7 grams of protein for a little 112 calories and less than a gram of fat. Often shrimps are mistaken or given a bad repo that it contains high cholesterol content but from the studies done by many health organizations, it has been proved that shrimp cholesterol may not be that bad for you. Actually, it’s a good source of omega-3 fatty acids which reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems because it reduces cholesterol in the blood.

**Omega-3 fatty acids used to ease the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome which we all women face; avoid blood clots, prevent the development of rheumatoid arthritis, decelerates the growth of cancerous tumors, and also helps prevent Alzheimer's disease.