Beat the heat with these cool summer treats!

Mouse Popsicles

It’s not what you’re thinking! The name refers to the size of the popsicle—not the contents. Wash a bowl of seedless grapes, and then set the grapes in the freezer for about an hour. Poke colored toothpicks into the grapes to serve.

Juice Pops

Summer isn’t complete without homemade juice popsicles. Simply fill a popsicle mold or an ice tray with your favorite fruit juice. Cover the ice tray with clear plastic wrap and poke a toothpick through the plastic into each square. Place the tray into the freezer until the popsicles are frozen solid.

Frozen Monkey Treats

Here is a healthy snack that your kids will go bananas for! Peel a banana and cut it in half. Insert popsicle sticks into the cut ends. Dip the bananas into yogurt or melted chocolate, and then roll the bananas in chopped nuts, crushed cereal, or coconut shavings. Place the bananas on a small waxed paper-lined baking sheet and set the sheet into the freezer for an hour or so. Fun to make and even more fun to eat!

Fruit Fizzy

Don’t plan your summer party without this refreshing drink. Pour one can of Sprite (it doesn’t have caffeine) into a blender, along with small ice cubes. Add several large strawberries, a handful of blueberries, or other favorite fruit to the mix. Blend the mixture until it has the texture of a slush. Pour into a glass and garnish with a cherry on top.

Posted by Janet Schlarbaum

Cool Snacks for a Hot Summer from Janet Schlarbaum

Posted by: Janet Schlarbaum

By Mike Selvon

Just imagine a piping hot muffin, fresh from the oven and gooey with butter. Blueberries, strawberries or chocolate chips just add to the overwhelming taste sensation. Your mouth will be in heaven. Muffin recipes are out there for you to make.

There are some great websites to visit that can give you all the recipes that you will need in order to make your very own homemade muffins. There are a variety of flavors to choose from and they are sure to be a big hit at breakfast.

You can find all sorts of delicious recipes on the internet. Pancake recipes, roll recipes, sweet bread recipes and even free bread recipes are all just a click away. But let’s concentrate on your muffins. One great website for recipe ideas is “Muffin Recipes”.

They offer a wide selection of recipes for muffins and a wide palate to fit every taste bud and flavor desire you may be craving. A popular muffin on many people’s baking list is blueberry. They are easy to make and you can even wrap them up and freeze for later.

Do not waste your time with recipes from a boxed package. You can find great homemade blueberry muffin recipes online along with a variety of other pancake recipes or sweet bread recipes. It is a great way to satisfy those blueberry cravings.

A great tip is to always buy fresh. You can use frozen or naturally canned blueberries as long as they are not designed for cobblers or pies, since they are way too sweet. When mixing, make sure not to over work the batter.

The next step is to fold in your blueberries. Use a gentle folding technique that is basically a swoop, scoop and repeat. That is what folding into a batter means. Spray your muffin tins with a non-stick spray. Add enough batter to fill the muffin tins half-way. Then place in an oven that is preheated to 350 degrees.

Note that some muffin recipes call for you to butter and flower the muffin tins. You can either do this or just use the non-stick spray. Bake for thirty minutes and then enjoy fresh hot blueberry muffins anytime of day.

Great Janet Schlarbaum Muffin Recipes

“Today I am exploring the health benefits of organic coffee.  Whatever you enjoy drinking in the morning make sure it is organic.”

Have a great Day!  Janet Schlarbaum

Copyright (c) 2008 Soaring Eagle Companies LLC

Trying to decide whether or not to drink organic coffee or not? With organic coffee there are added health benefits that one would not normally find in regular coffee.

Organic coffee is full of antioxidant, nutrients and heart healthy vitamins. Here are some of the health benefits to drinking 100% organic coffee- Full of antioxidants- 100% organic coffees from the private estates in Africa are full of antioxidants mainly because of the volcanic nutrient rich soil they are grown in. Because the coffee plants are grown in the shade, most of their nutrients are preserved. Antioxidants are natural enzymes that help to prevent the onset of diseases and other common medical ailments. Free of pesticides and chemicals- All of the coffees grown and produced at the African private estates are grown with no added pesticides or chemicals. Because of the dangerous consequences of exposure or ingestion of pesticides many people are turning to organic coffee to aid in optimal health without the worry of the long term side effects to subtle pesticide exposure. Chemical and pesticide exposure can cause respiratory or even mental deficiencies with many people.

Natural energy booster or relaxer- Drinking 100% organic coffee from African private estates can give you that natural energy boost that you need in the morning or anytime of the day. The caffeine in these 100% organic coffees is in pure form, straight from the coffee bean plant, making it pungent and potent and a natural way to gain some pep. The African decaf coffee is a gentle way to sooth the senses while avoiding the added rush from the caffeinated brands. Perfect for polishing off a busy day when you just want to curl up with a good novel and relax.

Losing weight- Many use 100% organic coffee to satisfy their weight loss goals. Coffee acts as a natural laxative and diuretic causing a slightly increased output in bodily fluids. Although not recommended as a diet aid or means of  nutrition, coffee still satisfies hunger while flushing out toxins at the same time.

There are many health benefits to drinking 100% organic coffee, and the taste of African private estates coffee easily turns it into a healthy drinking habit that can be enjoyed on a regular basis.

Remember, drink to your health everyday with a great cup of organic coffee from a private estate in Africa. This coffee will change your life. Always make it with 100% Organic Coffee.

Author:  Dr Robin Rushlo

Enjoy Janet Schlarbaum

By Sunil Tanna

The region that is today Iran has a very long history. Urban settelements have existed in the country since at least 4000 BCE, and of course most people have heard of the Persian empires. The country of Persia, officially changed its name to Iran in 1935 at the direction of then ruler, Reza Shah, but in 1953, Mohammad Reza Shah (the son of Reza Shah) announced that both names, “Iran” and “Persia”, were acceptable.

Persian cuisine is known for its subtle and delicate mixtures of spices. You will also find that Persian recipes use many interesting ingredients including apricots, artichokes, eggplant, lemon, lime, oranges, pistachios, spinach, saffron and tarragon.

All Persian meals are traditionally served with tea (“chai”). Tea is in fact drank throughout the day, as well as with breakfast, and before and after both lunch and dinner. You should also look out for the side dishes (“mokhalafat”), containing various accompaniments which are served with Persian meals, as they form an important part of the experience.

Additionally, rice is often eaten with Iranian meals. Although the rice may be prepared in a variety of different ways, the best known is “chelow”, in which rice is partially boiled, then drained and finally steamed. This results in a fluffy texture for the rice, with a golden crust at the bottom of the cooking pot.

Popular Persian main dishes include:

* Chelo Kabab – This is probably the most famous of Persian dishes. It is marinated lamb, cooked over a charcoal grill, and served with rice.

* Fesenjan – Fesenjan is a stew made from chicken or duck. It contains walnut and pomegranate, and has a sweet and sour flavor.

* Abgousht – This is vegetable and beef stew.

* Shirin Polo – Shirin Polo is traditionally eaten at Iranian weddings. It is rice with slivered almonds, orange peel and pistachio nuts.

Some mokhalafat side plates may accompany Iranian meals include:

* Naan – Persian unleavened flat bread.

* Panir – A type of cheese that is reminescent of feta.

* Khiyarshur – Pickles.

* Torshi – Relishes.

* Sabzi – Mixed herbs.

Posted by Janet Schlarbaum

Janet Schlarbaum Persian Recipes

Recipe Collected by: Janet Schlarbaum

By Cedrick White

There are a endless supply of cheesecake recipes on the internet which makes for convenient access for any cheesecake lover. Given the large supply, you can literally bake a different cheesecake each day for a year and still have lots more to chose from.

Considering that there’s such a large selection of cheesecake recipes out there, it’s convenient to think of them in terms of categories. Some of the more popular categories are chocolate and fruit flavored ( apple, blueberry, blackberry, cherry, lemon, orange and more) recipes.

Some of your more exotic cheesecakes include mango, papaya and even kiwi. You even got coffee flavored recipes and with the wide range of coffee flavors to choose from just imagine the range of tastes you could create with your cheesecake.

You not only have recipes for conventional cheesecakes, but you also have specialty recipes such as no bake, low carb, low fat and even vegan cheesecakes recipes. There’s literary a recipe to satisfy just about any dietary requirement.

And the flavoring you can add to a recipe is also only limited by your imagination as vanilla and lemon extracts are just the tip of the iceberg. You also have recipes that use banana, almond, blueberry, butterscotch, orange and strawberry to name a few. And if you got the taste for something a little stronger, there are cheesecake recipes that that use liqueurs like amaretto, cognac and rum.

A gratifying quality about these recipes is that if you can follow a recipe, it’s almost impossible to bake a bad cheesecake. The worse thing that can happen is it cracks when you bake it. Though not as lovely, they’re still just as sweet. And if looks are really your thing, just add some icing on top. Your family and friends will never know.

So what are you waiting for. Come check out and enjoy a delicious cheesecake today

Janet schlarbaum Cheesecake Recipes

By Natalie Schloesser

Cooking is truly an experiment; what foods work with what spices, how much, the variables go on and on. For many, cooking without a recipe or even altering a recipe is a scary thing. They follow recipes exactly, worried that the cooking police might come find them if they don’t.

And so, I offer you my Spicy Shrimp Chowder recipe. You will notice the ingredients are in two categories – what you can alter and what you can’t. (Please notice which list is longer and that even the necessary ingredients have options.) What I have offered you is a choice, a sort of “experiment with a guide”. I have it listed the way I make it (although I often think my husband sneaks in more red pepper when I’m not looking) but please feel free to add or subtract, increase or decrease amounts, or whatever else you want to please your palate. For some altering hints, I’ve added a list below the recipe instructions. Enjoy!

Necessary ingredients

2- 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cups eight vegetable or tomato juice

1 cup white wine or water

½ cup rice

Other ingredients

2 cups celery, chopped

1 green or red bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp ground red pepper

1 pound pre-cooked, tail off shrimp

Spray 5-6 quart crock pot with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients except shrimp and rice in slow cooker, cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Stir in fish and rice. Cover and cook on high an additional 45 minutes.

Hints for alteration

- For soupier chowder, add an additional 1 cup juice and/or ½ cup wine.

- Make with any firm fish such as tuna steak, halibut, or haddock cut into 1 inch cubes.

- Increase or decrease celery, bell peppers, and onion according to your tastes.

- For a spicier chowder, increase garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and/or ground red pepper. You could also add some hot sauce if desired.

Janet Schlarbaum Spicy Shrimp Chowder

By Cyndi Roberts

It seems that school starts earlier every year. So it’s time to start thinking about what to put in those school lunches every morning.

My children always wanted to bring their own lunches because they didn’t really like what was offered in the school lunchroom. But it was sometimes a little difficult to make their lunches nutritious and tasty and also to put a little variety in their lunchboxes without spending a small fortune.

If we let ourselves, we can spend a “lot” on individual servings, lunchables, and treats for lunches. Here are a few ideas to help you meet the “Frugal Lunchbox Challenge”.

Go to the Dollar Store and buy a few of those individual serving-size storage containers. These are very inexpensive and they are worth every penny.

You can use them for any number of things–like making your own fruit cups and pudding cups.

And they can also be used to hold dip for carrot or celery sticks or fill with peanut butter and pack a zipper bag of pretzels for dipping.

Also at the Dollar Store or discount store, you can pick up one or two of the small “blue ice” cold packs. They will help keep lunchbox items cold and safe. Sandwiches such as egg salad or tuna salad need to have a cold pack. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, on the other hand, can be packed without one.

Those zipper bags we all love come into their own when packing lunches! They can hold vegetable sticks, popcorn, crackers, homemade cookies, etc.

Muffins hold up well in a zipper-top bag, as do slices of banana nut bread, or most any other quick bread.

When the weather turns cool, a small thermos will come in handy for homemade soup or chili. I see lots of these for sale at garage and yard sales, sometimes for as little as 25 cents.

A thermos is also handy to hold whatever drink your child likes to take.

Try to put some fun in the lunchbox: keep a stash of small, inexpensive toys, cut sandwich bread into cool shapes with cookie cutters, write little notes to your child, cut out funny cartoons. Children love surprises.

A good routine to get into is while you are cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, put leftovers in the storage containers, or make sandwiches and place in the fridge in a designated area for lunch items. Get your kids to help–the more they are involved, the better!

Put napkins, etc. in lunch boxes or bags and place them where all anyone has to do in the morning is fill with the prepared items. Now you can all be out the door in minutes!

Here are a few recipes that will help get you started this school year:

Apple Surprise

1 apple
Raisins
Peanut butter

Cut apple in half. Carefully, cut out the core of the apple. Spread peanut butter where the core used to be and over surface of apple. Sprinkle raisins over the peanut butter.

Trail Mix

2 cups granola cereal
1 cup peanuts
1 cup dried apple bits
1 1/2 cups yogurt-covered raisins
2/3 cup chopped dates
1 cup dried banana bits

Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container.

A small serving of this goes a long way!

Peanut Butter Balls

1/2 c. peanut butter
2 1/2 tbsp. nonfat dry milk
2 tbsp. raisins
2 tbsp. honey
1/4 c. coconut
Sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients and form into balls. Roll in sesame seeds.

This is a good recipe for the kids to help with– they love to roll the dough into balls.

School Lunches from Janet Schlarbaum

Recipe selected by: Janet Schlarbaum
Author: Tony Buel
Fast foods may have been the meal of choice for many busy families through the last couple of decades. But now the slow cooked, home-prepared meals are gaining in popularity! Crock pots, with their wafting aromas and ‘ready to eat’ meals, entice health-conscious, busy people.

And it doesn’t take super human talent, skill, or effort to make a delicious meal in a crockpot – in fact there are quite a few crockpot recipes that require 5 or less ingredients! And crockpot cooking can be as simple as tossing a few ingredients into the pot before everyone leaves for the day. In the evening, the smell of slow cooked food fills the house and whets the appetite. There’s no more last minute trip to the grocery store, or the endless ‘what’s for dinner’ questions.

Rising food costs and shrinking household budgets have helped bring many nostalgic foods back to the forefront. Time stressed families, tired of eating prepackaged foods, have begun to crave the aroma of savory nutritious meals.

Pot roast, beef stew, chicken and noodles can utilize less expensive cuts of meat, which taste tender and moist after slow cooking.

Our grandmothers knew how to manage a frugal, yet efficient and productive home — and they didn’t need expensive gadgets either! Many slow cookers sell in the range of $20 to $35, and the cost is soon made up by the thriftiness of eating at home.

On the market now are the programmable crockpot slow cooker. No stirring or supervision is necessary, and once cook time has expired the smart-pot automatically shifts to a warm setting. Want a side dish with your stew? Try the dual cooker. It allows cooking of two different dishes at the same time. Worried about little hands reaching up to the counter? Try the ‘cool touch’ slow cooker. These can be up to 25% cooler than other slow cookers.

Although crockpots are a relatively new invention, making hearty foods that simmer all day has been around for quite a while. Whether you’re cooking for just two people or a large family, make your own convenience food! Dig out some old recipes or find a new one, and enjoy flavorful foods without the hardship.

Trusty Janet Schlarbaum Crockpot Recipes

Submitted by: Janet Schlarbaum
Author: DEV DAAS

Three years ago I decided to go “meatless.” It wasn’t a difficult decision as I wasn’t a voracious carnivore to begin with, however there were a few dishes that I missed that contained meat and wondered how I was going to live without these favorites.

Rather than resign myself to the notion that these dishes could never be converted over to a meatless status, I decided to pull myself up by my vegetarian boot strings (cotton, of course), and see if I could find a way to convert these meat-is to meatless.

The first was my Grammy’s recipe for American Chop Suey, actually, almost everyone’s Grammy made this or some variation of it. I tried different ways but this one comes the closest:

Meatless American Chop Suey

1 vidalia onion chopped
1-2 tbsp. butter
1/2 pkg Quorn (brand name) veggie grounds frozen
2 cans Campbellâs Tomato Soup
1 tblsp. catsup (yes catsup, you can’t really taste it, it just adds a rich color to the sauce)
sea salt and pepper to taste

1 lb of your favorite fancy pasta in its rigati form, that means with lines, or something like gemelli or rotini

Melt butter in a medium sized skillet over low heat. Add vidalia onion and gently saute until translucent. Add frozen Quorn grounds and heat till thawed. Add 2 cans soup and cook over low heat for 5-7 minutes. Add catsup salt and pepper and cook an additional 102 minutes.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain thoroughly and add sauce to pasta. Stir to incorporate completely. Serve. Serves 4-6 people as a side.

This next one is an adaptation of a Greek-Middle-Eastern recipe for Dolma. I loved this dish as a youngster summering on Cape Cod. A wonderful Lebanese family “turned me on” to this dish and I have finally found a way to make it meatless and spectacular!

Veggie Dolmas

1 jar of Grapeleaves in brine

Filling:
2 cup basmati rice cooked
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup of pine nuts ground
1/2 cup quorn grounds thawed
2 tbsp. dried mint (or 1/4 cup fresh mint chopped fine)
1 tbsp. dried parsely (or 1/4 cup fresh parsely chopped fine)
1 tsp dried oregano (or 1/8 cup fresh oregano chopped fine)
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp pepper
1 small can tomato paste

Juice of 2 lemons

Remove the grape leaves from the jar, rinse and unfold carefully and rinse again. Lay paper towels and pat dry. Gently remove any stems that are still on the leaves.

In a large bowl mix the filling ingredients together till they are well incorporated.

Carefully separate a few of the leaves and line the bottom of a 1-2 gallon stock pot.

To roll take a leaf, place 1 heaping tsp of filling in the center of the leaf about 1/2 inch up from the bottom edge. Fold 1/2 inch up over the filling, fold each side toward the middle, then beginning at the bottom again roll the whole package up till you have a 1-2″ “log.

Continue with the rolling process till you use up all the filling.

Line the rolled leaves up in a circular pattern in the stock pot till all are in. Pour the juice of both lemons gently over the rolled leaves. Place a dinner plate on top with a stone in the middle to keep in place. Gradually add cold water till it just covers the leaves.

Bring contents to a boil then reduce and simmer for abount 1/2 hour till tender. Drain water by holding on to stone to keep plate in place and gently pour out cooking water. Leave plate on till almost cool.

Janet Schlarbaum,  has been a passionate cook for years.

Posted by: Janet Schlarbaum

By Richard Heap

Modern culinary recipes normally comprise of several components, they start with the name and often the place or provenance of the dish, how much time it will take to prepare the dish, the desired ingredients along with their quantities or proportions, equipment and conditions needed to prepare the dish, also an ordered list of preparation steps with the number of servings that the recipe will provide.

There are many tasty and healthy salads you can prepare. You could try a courgette salad with mint, garlic, red chili, lemon and extra virgin olive oil crunchy raw beetroot salad with feta and pear salad, or maybe a quick summer salad is a light yet filling summer staple. This simple composed salad is a great way to allow your kids to express their creativity, let them arrange the ingredients on every ones plate while you whip up the creamy, herbed buttermilk dressing.

Become a member of a cooking recipes internet site and share your recipes, including pictures, in your own blog. You can select meal types, choose special dietary requirements and use the interactive shopping list to create a list of ingredients you need from any of their healthy recipes. If you’re counting carbs, search on the internet by the key word low-carb in A Google search engine to find recipes with less than 20 grams of carbohydrate per serving. The Spice House recipe database has close to 600 recipes submitted by customers, staff, professional chefs, and cookbook authors.

There are all kinds of recipes that are full of nourishment yet easy on your budget, you can find simple recipes on the internet for some favorite meals that are quick to prepare and will help you on your way to eating 5 small meals a day, the ideal diet.

Facts About Janet Schlarbaum Recipes