If you’re not the type of person that wants to spend their time managing
an elaborate fruit or vegetable garden, you might consider planting and
maintaining an organic herbs garden. While the product might not seem as
significant, you’ll still enjoy the constant availability of fresh,
delicious herbs to flavor your meals with.

First you’ll want to choose the herbs that you’ll plant. You might have a
hard time doing this because of the huge scope of organic herbs available. But the
best way to choose is to do what I did; just look at what you have in your
kitchen. By planting your own collection of these organic herbs,medicinal herbs or Chinese you can save
money on buying them from the grocery store,pharmacy,orChinese herbs store while having the added benefit
of freshness. Some of the herbs you might start with include rosemary,
sage, basil, dill, mint, chives, and parsley among others.

When choosing an area to put your herb garden, you should remember that
the soil should have extremely good drainage. If the dirt gets watered and
stays completely saturated, you have no chance of ever growing a healthy
plant. One of the best ways to fix the drainage problem is to dig a foot
deep in the soil, and put a layer of crushed rocks down before replacing
all the soil. This will allow all that water to escape, thus saving your
plants.

When you are ready to begin planting your organic herbs, you might be tempted to buy
the more expensive plants from the store. However, with herbs it is much
easier to grow them from seed than it is with other plants. Therefore you
can save a bundle of money by sticking with seed packets. Some herbs grow
at a dangerously fast rate. For example, if you plant a mint plant in an
open space then it will take over your entire garden in a matter of days.
The best way to prevent this problem is to plant the more aggressive
plants in pots (with holes in the bottom to allow drainage, of course).

When it comes time to harvest the herbs you have labored so hard over, it
can be fatal to your plant to take off too much. If your plant isn’t well
established, it isn’t healthy to take any leaves at all, even if it looks
like its not using them. You should wait until your plant has been well
established for at least several months before taking off any leaves. This
wait will definitely be worth it, because by growing unabated your plant
will produce healthily for years to come.

Once you’ve harvested your delicious home grown herbs, you’ll want to use
them in cooking. Why else would you have grown them? Well first the
process begins with drying them out. This is easily achieved by placing
them on a cookie sheet and baking them 170 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 to 4
hours. After they’re sufficiently dried to be used in cooking, you can
consult the nearest cookbook for instructions on using them to effectively
flavor a dish.

If you want to store your herbs for later usage, you should keep them in a
plastic or glass container. Paper or cardboard will not work, because it
will absorb the taste of the herbs. During the first few days of storage,
you should regularly check the container and see if any moisture has
accumulated. If it has, you must remove all the herbs and re-dry them. If
moisture is left from the first drying process, it will encourage mildew
while you store your herbs. Nobody likes mildew.

So if you enjoy herbs or gardening, or both, then you should probably
consider setting up an herb garden. It might require a little bit of work
at first to set it up for optimal drainage, and pick what herbs you want
to grow. But after the initial hassle, it’s just a matter of harvesting
and drying all your favorite herbs.

You have doubtless noticed that every time you go shopping, your bill is higher and the number of bags you leave with are fewer than just a month ago. The prices of staple items, such as sugar, bread, coffee and butter jump every week, to a new high. Last week, you might have said, “This is ridiculous!” This week, it’s just downright depressing. Nonetheless, you know that somehow, you’ve got to manage, but it’s getting harder. Here are some inexpensive, family dinner recipe ideas that will help you manage your food budget and not bore the family to tears. Even your kids will find these recipe ideas tasty and fun.

Budget-friendly family dinner recipe ideas even kids can like
Back in the 1950s, casseroles were a favorite family dinner recipe idea. Mom was very clever in disguising a couple of cans of tuna, cream of mushroom soup, noodles, a package of frozen peas and a few crushed potato chips as a topping. This was the famous tuna casserole, simple to make and very inexpensive. This dish deserves a revival in today’s kitchen. Perhaps it’s the chips, browned in the oven as a crispy garnish, that made it so popular with kids. This casseroles is so versatile, in that you can substitute any meat, soup and veggie. Just leave the noodles and potato chips intact and you’ve got a generic, budget-friendly and ever popular family dinner recipe.

Now the price of many meats has hit that benchmark of ridiculous. Fortunately, chicken is still something you can toss in the shopping cart without having a heart attack over the price. It’s also a happy fact that chicken is also one of those family dinner recipe ideas you can work and rework in so many ways. Most kids like chicken too. A whole chicken can be stuffed with a rice filling or conventional stuffing and baked. Fried chicken is cheap and easy. With one chicken, you can make a huge pot of chicken soup. Leftover chicken becomes a taco, enchilada, chef’s salad, or tomorrow’s sandwich. Don’t forget that generic casserole we talked about.

Rice and pasta are still bargains, compared with a jar of peanut butter or a gallon of milk. These grains can form the basis of dozens of family dinner recipes that keep your food budget in line. Both provide good opportunities to use up leftover bits of meat and veggies, so you’ll not waste your food money on a frig ’science project’. More on Family Dinner Recipe Ideas.

Sandwiches are legends. Who doesn’t know how to make them ? But sandwiches with lot of bread are boring..so boring because while you have the sandwich, you're actually having 90% bread and 10% the real stuff.

There’s an easy way to make normal sandwiches interesting. And that’s our recipe tip of the day.

So here goes. Instead of using breads to make sandwiches, try wraps. Yep, you heard it right - wraps. Now, wraps are of different types. You can make them from dough, or buy them, infact there are a lot of them. The idea is that, instead of using white breads, use tasty yet thin wraps, this will give more “real estate” to the tasty stuff a.k.a the fillings.

Both you and me have the sandwiches for the fillings and not the bread, right?

So try out and come up with tasty ideas for filling while keeping the boring bread part to minimum.

Wraps, they are indeed different.

Find more types of sandwiches and wraps here.

Philly sandwiches

No doubt that an American sandwich classic is the Philly Cheesesteak, and for good reason. I went to college in Philly, and I remember many, awesome Philly Cheesesteaks. OK, some Philly Cheesesteaks were consumed late at night after much partying, and I don’t actually remember THAT Cheesesteak….. but I do remember being quite content. UUUMMMM, remember the last fabulous Philly Cheesesteak you had, with that hot combination of grilled steak and melted cheese, served up in a warm hoagie roll. A great Philly Cheesesteak has such a familiar taste that even a first-timer would recognize it. Sure, there was the quintessential Cheesesteak argument of whether Pat’s or Geno’s made the best Philly Cheesesteak in Philadelphia, and that war still rages on today. That’s all part and parcel of the urban legend behind the Philly Cheesesteak, and it has spread all over this great Country.

Great Wraps offers the awesome Philly Cheesesteak, and it’s one of our most popular sandwiches……but that’s because we offer a Philly Cheesesteak with our own twist. You see, we believe the only way you can improve on the perfection of a Philly Cheesesteak is by serving it WRAPPED. That’s right, a Philly Cheesesteak Wrap. What better way is there to release all the flavor of the hearty, grilled steak and melted cheese than by eliminating all that needless bread. Even if you’re not concerned about all the wasted Carbs, just consider how fabulous a Philly Cheesesteak would be if you could really get down to the sizzling hot meat and cheeses quicker. UUUUMMM, now that’s what makes a Philly Cheesesteak! Well, there’s one more thing Great Wraps does to make a Philly Cheesesteak Wrap so good it’d make Philadelphia proud. Great Wraps GRILLS the entire Philly Cheesesteak sandwich until it’s golden brown. That’s right – a Philly Cheesesteak Wrap that’s grilled on the outside, hot on the inside and exploding with Cheesesteak taste. Move over Pat’s and Geno’s, Great Wraps is poised to become part of the Philly Cheesesteak urban legend.

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By Jim Nettleton

Cooking and preparing fine, gourmet meals has always been a hobby of mine. Over the years, I’ve originated dozens of recipes that have pleased family and friends. Here’s one that you can prepare rather quickly that will have your diners praising your skills.

SEQ CHAPTER h 1STUFFED SHELLS ELEGANCE

INGREDIENTS

1 15 ounce can Hunts tomato sauce

½ small onion chopped fine

1 tblsp. Parsley, chopped fine

1 tsp. Basil

½ cup water

½ cup dry red wine – Cabernet Sauvignon recommended

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

½ cup extra virgin olive oil for sautéing

1 whole mild Italian sausage (about 10 inches)

1 cup coarsely chopped red bell peppers with seeds and stem removed

1½ cups diced creamer potatoes

1 cup freshly sliced mushrooms

5 ounces small cooked shrimp

5 ounces cooked crabmeat

1/3 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tblsp. freshly chopped garlic

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 box jumbo pasta shells (biggest you can find)

5 ounces flounder fillet

Parmesan cheese, grated

Place tomato sauce in a large pot. Add chopped garlic, onion, parsley, pepper, basil, water, wine, ¼ cup olive oil and Italian sausage. Cover pot and bring to boil. Immediately turn heat down to simmer for 30 minutes. When finished simmering, remove and save sausage.

While sauce is simmering, saute the following in the ½ cup olive oil: the mushrooms, bell peppers and creamer potatoes for about 5 minutes.

Bake the flounder until flaky and tender. Then, using a food processor (or chopping the ingredients very fine by hand - if done by hand, the resultant mixture should be thoroughly blended) - blend the shrimp, crabmeat, flounder, Monterey Jack cheese, garlic powder and cayenne pepper until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

Prepare the shells according to package instructions. When done, drain and pat dry. Stuff the shells with approximately 1½ heaping tablespoons of the mixture. To aid in judging the amount needed, the mixture should be enough to stuff about 10 shells.

Place the shells in a baking dish. Pour the sauce over the shells, using entire amount. Bake at 325 degrees until sauce bubbles.

Remove. Sprinkle shells with a small amount of Parmesan cheese. Cut sausage into small pieces. Serve with sausage pieces as garnish.

Enjoy!

About the Author

Jim Nettleton is a radio and television professional who loves his food. He has been cooking and preparing gourmet meals for decades and loves to share his recipes with those who enjoy good food. He highly recommends The Secret Recipes From Your Favorite Restaurants - http://tinyurl.com/ypo2a8. Visit his French Gourmet Food blog for cooking tips, tricks and recipes at http://frenchgourmetfood.blogspot.com/.

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Why am I using single serve coffee maker as an example, why not other coffee makers like filter drip, espresso or even under cabinet coffee maker?

Of course, I can simply tell you that as the author of this article, I like single serve coffee maker, so I am writing about it. But, I would not do this. So, first I would bring you through the merits of this coffee machine, then tell you how I managed to get it free!

Now, let me go back to the earlier question, why are we not using filter drip, espresso or under cabinet coffee maker as our example? Why must we be using single serve coffee maker?

I would just use one word to sum up everything -difficult. Yes, the reason why I prefer single serve coffee maker to any other coffee makers is just this -ease of use.

I am sure there are many people that can brew great coffee with filter drip, espresso or under cabinet coffee maker, but unfortunately I am not one of them. And if you are like me, not that great with appliances and does not feel like attending some coffee course, then single serve coffee maker would be your choice coffee machine.

All you need to know for this single coffee machine is to identify your coffee blend and also the power point. Following that, you only need to insert the coffee pods, and press a button to get your cuppa.

Personally, there is no simpler way to enjoy your coffee than single serve coffee maker, this is almost like instant coffee! The only difference is of course, the quality is that of roast and ground.

Well, now that we know that single serve coffee maker is great, so how do we get one for free? Use it. All you need to do is to use it for a year and the single serve coffee maker not only pays for itself, it pays your many other single serve coffee makers to come.

Imagine drinking a coffee from starbucks or any other coffee shops at $3.50 per cup, then assuming that you need to have this caffeine fix for a year, and that would be $1277.50. If you use a single serve coffee maker, say, senseo which you can purchase for $100 and uses coffee pods at $0.80 per pods. The total cost comes up to $392.

The technology being the coffee pods is such that the flavor and quality of the coffee is sealed inside the pods, while the ease of using single serve coffee maker ensures that all you need to learn is where to press the button to get your coffee!

Sure, some of you might felt cheated by this whole article, but by shaving off expenses which you would have incurred, isn’t that akin to getting something free? And the quality of the cuppa is comparable to those from Starbucks and it is still as easy to enjoy the coffee…