How to Make Easy Tomato Salad

The simple salad is dressed with a combination of plain yogurt and garlic. This is one of the Mediterranean-inspired cooking recipes that makes a wonderful appetizer for Greek dishes. It can also be served as a side dish and can also make a light, quick and healthy meal for any time of the day with other healthy meals.

Ingredients:

For Salad:

3 ripe yellow tomatoes, washed and chopped into sixths

3 ripe red tomatoes, washed and chopped into sixths

3 ripe orange tomatoes, washed and chopped into sixths

1 C fresh basil, washed and roughly chopped

1 C fresh cilantro, washed and roughly chopped

For dressing:

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 C plain yogurt (Greek style recommended)

Directions:

1. Prepare tomatoes and herbs as indicated in the ingredients list.

2. Blend minced garlic and yogurt together.

3. Toss tomatoes and herbs with dressing. Serve and enjoy.

How to Make Greek Pasta Salad

Whole wheat penne pasta is combined with red onions, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, olives, and crumbled feta cheese and seasoned with a dressing made of lime juice, olive oil, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper in this recipe adapted from CraftCycle for one of the Greek-inspired appetizer cooking recipes.

Serve this with your favorite healthy meals!

Ingredients:

1 box (16 oz.) whole-wheat penne pasta

1 small red onion, chopped

1 medium cucumber, sliced

2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup each black and green olives

6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

1 tbsp. lime juice, preferably fresh

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 tsp. coarse ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

2 small cloves garlic, minced

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. While pasta is cooking, mix the vegetables together in a large mixing bowl. Add cheese.

3. When pasta is ready, drain liquid and add pasta to the bowl.

4. In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Whisk together thoroughly. Pour over pasta.

5. Stir until salad ingredients are well blended. Serve.

How to Make Spicy Beef And Rice

The flavors penetrate the meat and keep it juicy and tender. Searing the beef strips in high heat also give it a nice color and seal in its juices. Simmered in tomatoes and onion soup, the meat breaks down resulting in meat that almost melts in the mouth. This one of the cooking recipes for spicy beef and rice make a delicious and satisfying weekday meal.

This is perfect to serve with other healthy meals.

Ingredients:

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

4 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 lbs. steak (preferably chuck or flank) cut into strips or chunks

1/2 cup olive oil

1 can (8 oz.) tomatoes, drained

1 can (10.75 oz.) onion soup

Cooked rice

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine onion, garlic, turmeric, ginger, salt and beef. Let stand 1 hour.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Add beef mixture and sauté. Stir in tomatoes and soup.

3. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 – 2 hours, or until beef is tender. Add water to the mixture if it gets too dry before the beef is cooked.

4. Serve over hot, cooked rice.

How to Make Cabbage Gratin With Polenta

This is one of the Italian recipes that suggests the use of prepared polenta, which can be bought at Italian groceries or specialty stores. This makes it more convenient than making polenta from scratch, which can take quite some time to do. Of course, you can also make polenta from scratch if you have time. It is basically cooked cornmeal seasoned with salt and has a consistency similar to porridge.

Ingredients:

1 head red cabbage, chopped

1 onion, diced

1 1/2 C milk

1 potato, peeled and grated

1 apple, grated

2 C prepared polenta (available at grocery stores and specialty shops)

3 C sharp cheese, grated (old cheddar recommended)

Directions:

1. Core and chop the cabbage. Dice the onion.

2.Boil the cabbage for five minutes, then drain off the water. Return cabbage to pot, add the onion and a little butter or cooking oil. Sautee the cabbage and onion, then add the milk.

3. Boil the cabbage and onion in the milk for ten minutes, on high heat, stirring to prevent sticking. Remove cabbage from heat once the liquid is significantly reduced, and set aside.

4. Lightly oil a baking dish. Add prepared polenta to the oiled dish by the spoonful. Top with grated apple and grated potato. Pour cabbage mixture over everything. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Serve hot as a side dish or a light main course, and enjoy.

How to Make Cherry Cobbler

The tart cherries are sweetened by the sugar and make a perfect balance of sweet and sour. Golden brown, crisp, tender and aromatic, cherry cobbler is one of the fantastic dessert recipes for the holidays and can also be enjoyed anytime of the year since it’s so simple to make.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup + 1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 cup + ¾ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup milk

2 cups pitted sour cherries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the butter in a small microwave proof dish and microwave for a few seconds at a time until the butter is melted. Pour the butter into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, blend together 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar, and the baking powder. Add the milk and stir. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Do not stir.

3. Place the cherries in a medium bowl. Toss with 3/4 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of flour. Spoon the cherry mixture over the batter. Do not stir.

4. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of cobbler comes out clean.

How to Make Grilled Onions

The irresistible aroma and smoky flavor of grilled onions diet recipes makes a perfect complement to any meal. It can also add excellent flavor to baked beans, sandwiches, relishes, salads, and salsas.

Ingredients:

1 purple onion

Olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the grill.

2. Remove the skin from the onion and cut into ½-inch slices.

3. Brush each slice with olive oil (on both sides) and grill for 3 to 4 minutes, or until tender.

How to Make Bundt Cakes

Cooking Videos: Bundt pan expert Jenny Dalquist demonstrates how to bake a Bundt Cake.

Ingredients:

2 Sticks of Butter

4 eggs

packaged flour/sugar mixture.

1 cup whole milk

Directions:

1. Make sure your oven is on and preheated.

2. We'll spray inside the pan with a baking spray that uses flour.
3. Use a pastry brush to spread out your spray. When using a spray like this, make sure it's meant to bused on bake ware. Put two sticks of butter into your mixer. You want to cream the butter. You can also do this by hand with a bowl and spatula. 
4. Add your flour and sugar mixture into the mixer. Add in four eggs. Add in your milk
5. Bundt cakes tend to have ingredients that are very heavy and wet, making the cake very moist and dense. 
6. Let the mixer down and scrape the sides. Make sure all of your ingredients are well incorporated into the batter. 7. Turn the mixer on for another 10 seconds or so. 
8. Take your cake batter and pour it into your prepared pan. Distribute it as evenly as possible in the pan.
9. One problem with such a detailed pan, is that you get some of the batter that won't go down into all the crevices of the pan. You can overcome this by putting down a cloth and hitting the mold down on the counter top. 
10. Now you can put this into the oven after rolling the batter up the edges of the pan.