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Red-Red is a popular dish from Ghana made from cowpeas (black-eyed peas). It is thought to have been named for the combination of red pepper and red palm oil that is used in the cooking process. The Red-Red cowpeas stew is usually served with fried plantains, and is a lunch favorite in Ghana, particularly among office workers. If you are “unbeanz,” (i.e. unemployed) you can survive on this meal easily because the ingredients are inexpensive. This is most commonly served with fried ripe plantain (popularly known as “koko”). It is an ideal choice for vegetarians and vegans.

Ingredients:

2-3 cups dried cowpeas (black eyed peas) or similar
1 cup red palm oil (or vegetable oil)
1-2 onions, thinly sliced
2-3 ripe tomatoes, quartered
Cayenne pepper or red pepper
Salt and black pepper to taste
Several ripe or near-ripe plantains
1-2 bouillon cubes
(Optional) Small piece of smoked or dried fish
(Optional) One spoonful of shrimp powder

Step #1

Clean the black-eyed peas in water in a large pot. Soak them in water for at least an hour or overnight. After soaking them, rub them together between your hands to remove the skins. Rinse to wash away the skins and any other debris. Drain them in a colander. If you are using smoked or dried fish: remove the bones and skin, rinse and soak them in water, then dry them. If you are using dried shrimp: grind the shrimp (or obtain already ground or powdered shrimp).

Step #2
Place the black-eyed peas in a large pot, fill the pot with enough water to just cover the peas. Bring to a slow boil; reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the peas are tender; thirty minutes to an hour. When cooked, the peas should be moist, but not standing in water.

Step #3
While the peas are cooking: Heat the oil in a skillet. Fry the onions until slightly browned, then add the tomatoes, and fish and dried shrimp (if desired). Mash and stir the mixture to form a sauce.

Step #4
Stir the onion-tomato mixture into the black-eyed peas. Add bouillon cubes (if you are not using fish or shrimp). Simmer for ten minutes. Add salt, black pepper, and cayenne or red pepper to taste.

Step #5
While peas and sauce is simmering: Prepare fried plantains.

Step #6
Serve peas and plantains side by side on a plate.

How to Prepare Fried Plantains:

Step #1
Peel and thinly slice the plantains lengthwise.

Step #2
Fill a skillet with 1 inch of Canola or vegetable oil. Preheat the skillet until hot, but not smoking.

Step #3
Fry the plantains until they a nice golden brown color, and then flip to the other side. This should take about 2 or 3 minutes in total, but let your eyes be the judge.

Step #4
Remove the plantains from the skillet and place on paper towels to drain the excess oil, then season with salt and pepper. Makes about 6 to 8 servings.

How to Prepare Boiled Plantains:

Drop unpeeled plantains in boiling water. Cook for 15-20 minutes until a test plantain is tender when pierced with a fork. Peel before serving.

Note: Because of the amount of agricultural chemicals used in fruit cultivation, we suggest a good soap and hot-water scrub before boiling plantains. If you prefer, you may peel them before boiling.

A History of the Cowpea:

The cowpea is indigenous to Africa and contributes immensely to the diets of the under-privileged. It used to be called the “poor man’s meat”. However, improvement in the storage and processing techniques of cowpeas has changed this perception. Cowpeas are now accepted, as food in the homes of the rich, the informed, the salaried worker and all those who can afford it. The cowpea is rich in protein and B-vitamins.

Wayne Kiltz is the founder and owner of Africa Imports.
You can find more African recipes at http://africaimports.com/africanrecipes.asp

You can find many other articles on African art, culture, African fashions, and also African business opportunities. Just go to www.africaimports.com

My grandmother passed away when I was twelve. She was born and raised in rural Amish country in Indiana. Though it was over twenty five years ago when she died, I clearly remember her and her funny ways. She had a ‘davenport,’ used ‘rouge,’ and was allergic to perfume and only used ivory soap. She was forever pulling out her annoying vinyl measuring tape from a golden, round, wicker sewing basket with a matching lid she kept next to her sofa, or davenport. She would wrap it around my neck, my arms and my legs, taking notes to ensure the clothing she made me would fit. She always checked to see if I scrubbed behind my ears with a ‘warshcloth’ and her house was not child friendly, at all. She was meticulously clean, in fact she even ironed her sheets. She was peculiar to me as a child, but let me tell you, that woman knew how to bake the best pie in the whole wide world.

Grandma was an awesome cook and she loved to do it. Christmas was amazing as a child. We ate on real china and drank from expensive cranberry glass goblets. She had a special dish for everything on the table and only used the nicest, freshest linens. She always baked at least three different kinds of pies and there would be cookies and candies and homemade bread and turkey and mashed potatoes with amazing gravy and stuffing. Oh, the stuffing or ‘dressing.’ Sorry, I need a moment to reminisce.

Some good memories there. That is what a great recipe will do, create irreplaceable memories. For twenty five years, I have longed to be again sitting at Grandmas in front of her grand Christmas spread eating a piece of one of her best pies made with the freshest ingredients. Cherry, rhubarb, strawberry, blueberry, the filling is just an after thought when you have a delicious, flaky crust. I certainly cannot go back in time, but guess what, time has brought them to me. I found a box filled with her recipes at my aunts house. She was holding onto them for dear life, but what good is an amazing recipe if it is tucked in a box, unused for years and years.

I pried the magical box from my aunts white knuckles and have decided to not only cook these recipes , one at a time, but I want to share them. I love to cook a dish everyone will enjoy and come back begging for more. My children will inevitably prepare my most beloved and delicious family recipes with their children and they will be talking about how ‘to die for the pie is’ for generations to come. My kids love it when I make something new and exciting for them to eat and even like to help in the kitchen.

Here is a great unique dessert that is so easy to make and yes, it is from the magic box. It is called cobbler cake and you are going to love it. It is great with vanilla ice cream, whipped topping, or just a spoon. I cannot decide whether it is cobbler or cake, but it sure is yummy.

Turn on the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.

1 can of crushed pineapple
1 can of cherry pie filling
1 box of white, yellow or lemon cake, dry
7 oz shredded coconut
1 cup crushed walnuts
1 cup melted butter

First, pour the entire can of pineapple, juice and all into the greased pan. Second, empty the can of cherry pie filling over the pineapple. Next, completely cover the fruits with the dry cake mix and do not stir. Layer the coconut on top of that and then the walnuts. Drizzle the melted butter, (I use a turkey baster) over the entire thing and throw it in the oven. Yes, it is that simple. Set your timer for 70 minutes. It is done when it is golden brown and firm in the middle.

Jane Carrasco has a passion for preparing easy and delicious meals with recipes that her family will love, for generations to come. Go to http://easyrecipe4u.blogspot.com/ to find step by step instructions for preparing the best food with only the best recipes.

There’s nothing like grandma’s good old-fashioned cooking to get everyone’s mouth watering, and study after study has shown that America’s favorite dishes are consistently the classic, old-fashioned recipes they grew up eating at the dining room table.

Classic recipes like meatloaf, fried chicken and apple pie will probably be just as popular a hundred years from now as they were a century ago, because our taste buds are one thing that never really change. And while exotic recipes and ethnic restaurants might be fun for an occasional excursion for most Americans, it’s the good old-fashioned favorites that everyone always comes back to for their mainstay meals.

But while many people might consider it sacrilege to make any changes at all to these classic American recipes, there’s nothing at all wrong with adding your own personal flavor or flare to an old recipe. By experimenting with new ways of preparing and presenting classic recipes, you can add a little excitement to the dinner table and make your family or guests more excited about dishes that might otherwise seem uninspired.

Now, notice that we used the word “experimenting,” and there’s a reason for that. It’s important to realize that there is a fine line between improving an old classic recipe and transforming it into an entirely unappetizing variant. So make sure you taste test your new recipe creations before trying to serve them to a group without fair warning!

If you’re wary of actually changing the ingredients or preparation procedures for a favorite family recipe, one way of “spicing things up” without adding new spices is by changing the way you physically present the meal. Use of things like garnishes, arrangement of food on the plate or table, food colorings, or mixing and matching dishes that you haven’t before may be just what the doctor ordered.

You’d be amazed at how much the “look” of a dish actually changes the perception of its taste by those who are at the table.

While your favorite old-fashioned recipes will retain their great classic taste and flavor, making them more visibly and aesthetically pleasing will be a much-welcomed change for any dinner party that might be tired of the same old stuff over and over again.

Actually changing ingredients and cooking methods for an old-fashioned favorite recipe is much, much more risky and likely to end in a failed attempt that your guests might not approve of, but when it does work, the potential “payoffs” can be much greater.

Successfully modifying a classic recipe, and putting your own personal spin on it, is the mark of a truly innovative and talented cook (or, more properly, “chef”).

As we said earlier, though, you need to look at all major ingredient changes as “experiments” that need to be taste-tested by you or a trusted friend before presenting a new recipe to a roomful of hungry diners. While a successful improvised recipe can get you accolades, there’s nothing worse than presenting a new dish and making everyone at the table wish they hadn’t come to dinner!

You can browse our free online forum for lots of free cooking contests and recipe contests. And don’t forget to visit our network forum for other free stuff online.

One of my favourite foods is cheese; cheese on toast, macaroni cheese, cheese on crackers, jacket potato and cheese. Whatever the dish may be, i usually find one way or another to make sure this delicious product is included in my meals. The “posher” cheeses such as Brie, Camembert, Stilton and Roquefort are all delicious although usually costly. However, my love is blind and i am not deterred by the most basic Baby Bells, Philadelphia or even Cheese Strings.

One evening last week i began watching Gordon Ramsey’s F Word, not realising that i was about to view something that would test even the most fanatic of cheese fan’s stomachs. Casu Marzu. If anyone asks you casually if you want Casu Marzu on your Spaghetti Bolognese think very carefully before giving an answer. That is unless you want to have Maggots crawling around over your plate. Casu Marzu literally means “rotten cheese” in Sardinian and is colloquially known as “Maggot cheese”. It is considered a delicacy in that part of the world, something which i found very hard to comprehend, as i watched the cheese almost wriggle off the table.

Seeing something that seemed so strange being enjoyed by many people got me thinking about how food tastes differ between countries and cultures across the world. In England today it would be a great shock to open the menu and see monkey toes- deep fried, eaten off the bone, bats, or seal flipper pie. Nevertheless, these dishes are seen as the ultimate delicacy in some places. The thought of serving up fried cockroaches, reindeer blood dumplings, or dog would not cross my mind let alone dishes cooked with human breast milk or even placentas.

It can be incredibly easy to look at many of the different types of foods available and instantly regard them as “disgusting” or “inedible”, even if we have not tasted them ourselves. It seems that food acts as a cultural marker, as people become accustomed to what they have grown up with- usually what is available to them. Therefore, anything that is not familiar, has never been part of life, or which has become renowned for being detestable seems too strange to consume.

Many of my friends are from Zimbabwe and i have been continuously ridiculed by them about my favourite meal of Macaroni and Cheese. They used to be served it in their schools and told me that it was a very unpopular option, as they always wondered where the meat was or how fat and starch combined could be a healthy meal. The concept of me choosing to eat such a bland, meat free dish was incomprehensible. I could never really understand what was so wrong with my choice of food seeing as i had grown up with it being so popular and had never valued how easy it was to buy meat in comparison to Zimbabwe. However, my own disgust at the Casu Marzu helped me understand the idea that things can seem grotesque if you are not used to them, or can not understand the logic behind them. Interestingly, although i was so used to enjoying cheese, the concept of fly larvae feasting on a chunk at the same time as me literally turned my stomach.

The Zimbabweans later told me a story which confirmed my belief that food, culture and familiarity go together. One of the things they commonly cook to accompany meat and vegetables, adding starch to the dish is Sadza. Sadza is the name of a cooked pulverized grain meal and is actually the stable food in Zimbabwe. I have eaten it and it simply tastes like thick porridge. Although fairly bland it makes a meal more filling and well balanced. However, a popular way to eat Sadza is with curdled milk. Living in England today a few of them still travel all the way to London to pick up some proper sour milk to add to their maize meal.

I could never imagine eating something which i automatically assume is sour and stodgy despite never having tasted it, yet i eat Macaroni and Cheese which has very similar ingredients- dairy and starch. On the other hand, the Zimbabweans ridicule my Macaroni Cheese, whether they have tried it or not, as many can not understand the concept. However, a plate of Sadza and curdled milk is delicious to them. Therefore, maybe we should be more accepting of what other people chose to eat, as whether we think so or not, we all have weird and wonderful dishes.

Patrick is an expert Research and Travel consultant. His current interest is in Coventry Hotels.

One of my favourite foods is cheese; cheese on toast, macaroni cheese, cheese on crackers, jacket potato and cheese. Whatever the dish may be, i usually find one way or another to make sure this delicious product is included in my meals. The “posher” cheeses such as Brie, Camembert, Stilton and Roquefort are all delicious although usually costly. However, my love is blind and i am not deterred by the most basic Baby Bells, Philadelphia or even Cheese Strings.

One evening last week i began watching Gordon Ramsey’s F Word, not realising that i was about to view something that would test even the most fanatic of cheese fan’s stomachs. Casu Marzu. If anyone asks you casually if you want Casu Marzu on your Spaghetti Bolognese think very carefully before giving an answer. That is unless you want to have Maggots crawling around over your plate. Casu Marzu literally means “rotten cheese” in Sardinian and is colloquially known as “Maggot cheese”. It is considered a delicacy in that part of the world, something which i found very hard to comprehend, as i watched the cheese almost wriggle off the table.

Seeing something that seemed so strange being enjoyed by many people got me thinking about how food tastes differ between countries and cultures across the world. In England today it would be a great shock to open the menu and see monkey toes- deep fried, eaten off the bone, bats, or seal flipper pie. Nevertheless, these dishes are seen as the ultimate delicacy in some places. The thought of serving up fried cockroaches, reindeer blood dumplings, or dog would not cross my mind let alone dishes cooked with human breast milk or even placentas.

It can be incredibly easy to look at many of the different types of foods available and instantly regard them as “disgusting” or “inedible”, even if we have not tasted them ourselves. It seems that food acts as a cultural marker, as people become accustomed to what they have grown up with- usually what is available to them. Therefore, anything that is not familiar, has never been part of life, or which has become renowned for being detestable seems too strange to consume.

Many of my friends are from Zimbabwe and i have been continuously ridiculed by them about my favourite meal of Macaroni and Cheese. They used to be served it in their schools and told me that it was a very unpopular option, as they always wondered where the meat was or how fat and starch combined could be a healthy meal. The concept of me choosing to eat such a bland, meat free dish was incomprehensible. I could never really understand what was so wrong with my choice of food seeing as i had grown up with it being so popular and had never valued how easy it was to buy meat in comparison to Zimbabwe. However, my own disgust at the Casu Marzu helped me understand the idea that things can seem grotesque if you are not used to them, or can not understand the logic behind them. Interestingly, although i was so used to enjoying cheese, the concept of fly larvae feasting on a chunk at the same time as me literally turned my stomach.

The Zimbabweans later told me a story which confirmed my belief that food, culture and familiarity go together. One of the things they commonly cook to accompany meat and vegetables, adding starch to the dish is Sadza. Sadza is the name of a cooked pulverized grain meal and is actually the stable food in Zimbabwe. I have eaten it and it simply tastes like thick porridge. Although fairly bland it makes a meal more filling and well balanced. However, a popular way to eat Sadza is with curdled milk. Living in England today a few of them still travel all the way to London to pick up some proper sour milk to add to their maize meal.

I could never imagine eating something which i automatically assume is sour and stodgy despite never having tasted it, yet i eat Macaroni and Cheese which has very similar ingredients- dairy and starch. On the other hand, the Zimbabweans ridicule my Macaroni Cheese, as many can not understand the concept. However, a plate of Sadza and curdled milk is delicious to them. Therefore, maybe we should be more accepting of what other people chose to eat, as whether we think so or not, we all have weird and wonderful dishes.

Patrick is an expert Research and Travel consultant. His current interest is in Coventry Hotels.

Canned sodas and energy drinks are loaded with mostly sugar. These drinks, as tasty and delicious as they are, are not a very wise choice if you are conscious of your health and what you put into your stomachs as well as your bodies. However, there are lots of other substitutes for canned sodas and the popular energy drinks that are just as tasty, if not more delicious. The best thing about these substitutes is that you can make these at home and control the ingredients that are put into it.

So, just what are these homemade substitute drinks? Well, let us discuss just a couple of them. The only kitchen appliance that you will need is just a blender. The other things that you will need, besides the actual food ingredients, are serving containers.

Delicious and All-Natural Fruit Smoothies

I love fruit smoothies. Making fruit smoothies at home is actually very easy to do. All you need as far as ingredients is concerned is some ice cubes, the fruits of your choice, some organic honey for a natural sweetener, and a cream base of organic yogurt or fresh organic cream whichever that you prefer.

The fruits that I prefer to use are honey dew melons and strawberries for a great strawberry melon fruit smoothie. Actually, instead of organic honey I prefer to use just a little bit of organic brown sugar as a sweetener because brown sugar goes very well to take away the stinging tartness of the tartest strawberries. Sometimes I make a plain fruit smoothie, and at other times I prefer to add some half and half into the mix for a nice creamy fruit smoothie.

To make the smoothie, it is best to freeze your fresh fruits so that they will blend well to form a nice and icy texture to the smoothie. Mix the fruits, sweetener, ice cubes, and cream base into the blender and blend on high until you reach the texture that you desire. The amounts of ingredients can be eyed be the maker as it is not hard to guess the measurements of ingredients for smoothies.

Tasty Milkshakes

Besides great fruit smoothies, you also have the option of making homemade milkshakes with real all-natural ice cream. You can use any flavor of ice cream that you wish! For the milkshakes, you need some ice cream, ice cubes, whole milk, and some vanilla extract.

It is best to put the ice cubes into the blender first as you will need to blend down the cubes to ensure it is blended into the milk shake contents well. Next, put the ice cream into the blender. The vanilla extract is optional, but 2-3 drops of vanilla extract makes for a great and subtle aftertaste. Now, if you want a thick milkshake than you will want to put a small amount of milk. I suggest a half cup of milk to two scoops of ice cream for thick shakes.

And there you have it! Two great ideas for tasty and delightful homemade drinks.

Jay authors a site dedicated to Hamilton Beach Kitchen Appliances which features many great blenders. If you would like to see great appliances such as Hamilton Beach indoor grill, stop by and visit Jays site entitle Brook Street Kitchen.