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Have you ever felt the overwhelming need while sitting in front of the television screen in your favorite comfy clothes watching one more sitcom to get up and go to the kitchen in order to eat something more, although you have finished your dinner less than an hour ago? While many agree that the fridge hides a lot of delights that can ruin your appetite, today’s consumers do not believe that chewing something before or after a well-served meal is a totally weird practice. Maybe the food quantity someone consumed was not enough to make him or her feel satisfied and full, even when no weight loss program is followed. Or maybe, one hates to throw away food and in an effort to find a good place to put that last piece of apple pie that was left untouched and should not be thrown out, he consumes it. But, why you select to eat the specific types of food that you do? For dieticians and social researchers the true cause of compulsive eating is your psychological state. People tend to eat what they feel.

According to a research that was completed by a team headed by an American psychotherapist, Mrs. Synthia Power, who specializes in the area of “food and addiction,” there is a very close relationship between our mood and the food we select to eat. Those extra quantities of chips and ice-cream you put on your lap while watching a film, show something about the way you feel at the moment. If you have never tried to understand why was it that you selected to consume those extra calories since you were not really hungry, researchers have tried to examine our eating habits in relation to our emotional state.

The results of the study showed that the largest percentage of people feeling angry will select to eat a steak, while someone suffering from depression will look for food that includes in its substances sugar and caffeine. A jealous character will eat whatever is offered by the host, or whatever they have stacked inside the fridge, even if they are not particularly fond of the taste palette they are going to try, which explains a lot of the rivalries and food fights that are observed between siblings when they are still kids.

Mrs. Power’s research tested more than 500 people and this is considered to be the first serious attempt to examine the relationship between our dietary choices and the way we eat. As the British “Sunday Times” report, “People that have to express their anger often select food that is not easily decomposed like a beef steak. On the other hand, people that feel lonely and depressed select to consume carbohydrates.” According to the sample examined, those dealing with a stressful and difficult period in their lives, like for example a divorce, are prone to eat soft types of sweets, like ice-creams, honey or marmalade, while those experiencing sexual frustration tend to select starchy food, like pasta, cake or biscuits. Moreover, if you want to see who is really suffering from stress, try to observe your friends next time you invite them over for dinner. You will be able to pinpoint the stressed one by watching who will grab the salt first at your dinner party.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Food, Recreation, and Travel

I’ve often wondered how a chef can make such aromatic mixtures simply by throwing in a leaf of this or a dash of that. How do they know just what to add to enhance their meal? I went straight to a local chef and asked him. He said, “You just know.” Well, that wasn’t much help for you or me. He also said, “A lot of it is taught in culinary school but the exact amount varies among chefs.” Even better… now it’s something I have to go to school to learn and I’ll never do it like Emeril. Or so you think… You CAN learn what each of the spices do and I’ve even put together a compilation of some of the most common spices for you. Feel free to print it out and keep it with your cookbooks for quick reference while you are flavoring your own meals.

Cayenne Pepper - Cayenne pepper comes from grinding the dried pods of chili peppers. Needless to say, it is a hot spice that is usually used in Mexican foods. You can add a unique twist to your vegetable dips by adding a dash of cayenne pepper or create “South of the Border” omelets by mixing chopped onions, green peppers and tomatoes to your eggs.

Cilantro - Cilantro has an aroma similar to that of parsley and is best used crushed. Cilantro is primarily used as a topping for tacos, chili or enchiladas. You may also use cilantro on stir fried vegetables to add color and a little flavor.

Cinnamon - Cinnamon sticks are actually pieces of bark. When you purchase ground cinnamon in a jar, it has been processed by grating it finely. Cinnamon
has a very sweet, woody aroma and is terrific for taking away the tartness in most fruit pies. You can also add cinnamon to hot chocolate or tea for additional enjoyment.

Dill Weed - When you purchase dill from the grocery store, most often you are getting dill weed. A feathery spice with a very pungent yet delicate aroma. Dill is perfect for adding flavor to fish, shellfish and dips. A quick and easy way to spice up leftover carrots is to chop them, add a little butter and sprinkle dill on top. Cover and microwave for approximately five to eight minutes until carrots are tender but not mushy. Serve as a side dish with your fish.

Ginger - Ginger generally can be purchased either fresh as a root or ground. Similar to cinnamon, ginger also has a very woodsy flavor which works wonderfully when added to sugar cookies and also can be used in Asian dishes.

Marjoram - Marjoram has a delicate, sweet flavor that doesn’t overpower when added to soups or stews. It is also an exceptional variation for seasoning
baked chicken when sprinkled on the chicken with salt and pepper.

Rosemary - Rosemary comes from the mint family and has a very pungent piney aroma. Add rosemary to melted butter and drizzle over freshly cooked red
potatoes or other vegetables. It also works extremely well when used with fresh summer squash or zucchini.

Tarragon - Tarragon is commonly used with vinegar for pickling cucumbers and relishes. With a slightly bittersweet flavor, tarragon also is an excellent
addition to egg and cheese dishes. You can mix tarragon with melted butter and baste chicken or other poultry prior to baking.

Della Franklin is a business owner, successful IT Systems Manager & Internet Marketer. She counts 10 years experience as a teacher as well as being a Certified Network Engineer, cook, wife & mother. See more about her at http://www.foodielooksatfood.com or http://www.dogwoodsquare.com

Men and women out there like you believe in the sentimental power of a romantic dinner. Some carefully chosen recipes, flowers, candles, and some smiles, can transform a simple dinner invitation to an extraordinary dinning experience made just for you two. If you enjoy the intimacy a romantic dinner arrangement can bring to your lives, then it would be a great idea to try out another romantic meeting without spending your time thinking of how much this dinner will cost, but rather concentrate your thoughts on pleasing your partner in the comfort of your own house. You can pull it off with a minimum of fuss as long as you plan some things beforehand.

Put your imagination to work and you can create your own romantic miracle. Dream up something you can prepare a day or even some hours ahead of time, concentrating on your partner’s food preferences, and get down to work. It takes only a ten minute drive to your local grocery store for some fresh ingredients and then your idea can lead your special other to the romantic unknown culinary world you of your own creation. Your masterpieces can be of any nature. You do not have to become a chef to convert a simple one meal dinner to a extravagant eight meal course that will make your partner’s lips wanting to taste more often your cooking efforts.

Begin by selecting the place you want both of you to enjoy this special treat. Whether this is outdoors under the starlight or indoors at a carefully garnished table, the important thing is that you are going to start a new relationship ritual that you will love to indulge yourself with from time to time. Then examine the weather conditions. If the season’s temperature is high, select cold served food and iced drinks. If the frosty air makes you want to stay inside, then go for hot chocolate and warm food. Both will create the memories you are looking for and both will equally surprise and please the other party.

If you want to elevate the experience to a two parties deal, try cooking something together. It is such a romantic start to be able to explore your cooking talents and laugh at each other’s “mistakes.” Be generous with your presentation and decorate everything adequately as this dinner is made to be enjoyed by both of you. Float several candles in a glass punch or salad bowl, arrange some flowers on the dinner table, dig out those pieces of flatware you never use, and get as creative as you can. You don’t have to spend a fortune to get the romantic feeling across the other side of the table. Being romantic is all about intuition and letting your feelings become part of the meal you specially prepared for both of you. It can be memorable as any and it doesn’t have to cost much at all.

Get your inspiration hints from observing your partner’s food likings. If your partner adores sweet deals, offer some delicious treats that will make him or her appreciate the effort even more. If your last anniversary was a success, bring back that night by recreating the atmosphere with some simple romantic touches.

Prepare ahead of time-it would be awful to run out of an ingredient while in the process, or to mess up the recipe because you forgot to read it through carefully the first time. Regardless if this is going to be a “big” surprise to your significant other, be sure that he or she will have a blast with the idea of you announcing something like, “Would you like to join me for dinner? Tonight romance is specially served for you!”

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Cooking, Travel, and Food

Note: This is one of the many quick and easy beef recipes that tastes fabulous with minimal effort thanks largely to sour cream. You can fix this meal in less than 30 minutes. Because it is so easy to do - and tastes absolutely delicious - it is a great meal to serve at your dinner parties. The dish is absolutely best if you use beef tenderloin. There is little waste, and you are better off serving smaller portions than using a lesser-quality in larger amounts. This is great served over any type of pasta.

Serving size,1 1/3 cups. Carbs per serving5.4 grams of carb. NUMBER OF SERVINGS: 4.

Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin, trimmed well salt to taste freshly ground pepper to taste 12 ounces small button mushrooms 2 Tablesps coconut oil 1 ounce butter 3/4 cup stock or broth 2 Teasps Wondra flour 3/4 cup sour cream 2 Tablesps freshly chopped parsley (or small sprigs)

Pound meat thin. Cut in strips about 1/4 inch wide and 2 inches long. Put on a large plate and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. If you have time, refrigerate meat for an hour or longer. Wipe mushrooms clean with a damp paper towel. Trim off hard ends of stems. Heat a large, heavy skillet on medium-high. Add the oil. Quickly brown the meat in the hot oil on both sides, about 2 minutes total. Remove meat to a holding plate. Add the butter to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium-low. Ad the mushrooms and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the beef stock and stir to loosen particles on the bottom of the skillet. Add the flour and stir into the broth. Simmer for about 2 minutes on low. Add the meat and the sour cream and heat through. Adjust seasoning, sprinkle with parsley, and serve immediately.*

*Sub-Note: If you are not prepared to serve the meal promptly after you have added the flour and stirred the stock, remove the pan from the heat until you are. (If this is going to take longer than 30 minutes, refrigerate everything until you are ready.) Reheat mushrooms and stock in skillet until bubbly. Proceed with recipe.

Savory Swiss Steak

Ingredients:
3 T oil
2 lbs round steak, 1″ thick
1/4 cup Atkin’s bake mix
1 env. Dry Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix
1/2 t garlic powder
8 oz can Hunt’s tomato sauce
water

Preheat oven to 350F. Heat oil in heavy fry pan. Pound steak on both sides with heavy meat mallet, and cut into serving size pieces. Combine bake mix and garlic and pound into meat pieces. Fry in hot oil until browned on all sides. Layer in 13×9x2 baking dish and sprinkle soup mix over meat. Mix tomato sauce and 1/4 cup water and pour over all. Cover tightly with foil. Bake 2-3 hours until tender. Check each hour, will need to add water.
Serves 4 @ 12 carbs (11 NET carbs)

You could probably cut the carbs by using powdered beef broth, minced onions and spices instead of the Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix. One envelope has 34 carbs.

If you want more Low Carb recipes, please visit The Low Carb Diet eBook

The two main types of coffee beans are the Arabica and the Robusta beans. These grow in many regions between the Topic of Cancer to the North and the Tropic of Capicorn below the equator (the higher quality grades of coffee are grown at higher altitudes). There are over 80 coffee producing countries, with Brazil being the leading one.

If you speak to a true coffee lover, he or she would say the Arabica bean is the superior coffee bean. Generally it is the choice used in gourmet or specialty coffees. The Arabica bean produces a rich flavor and a full body sought in a good cup of coffee. However, this comes at a cost: the Arabica bean is difficult to grow. It is prone to disease and requires more hand cultivation. For these reasons, the Arabic bean yields smaller harvest per acre and is more expensive to produce.

The Robusta bean does not have the rich flavor and full body as that of the Arabica bean. The Robusta bean, however, is a very hardy species, yielding high harvests and proving resistant to disease. Also, the caffeine content in the Robusta bean is about two times less than in the Arabica bean. Many companies will blend a small amount of Arabica with a large amount of Robusta.

In order to get the best extraction for your coffee enjoyment, grinding the coffee beans properly is the key. Freshly grinding the coffee prior to brewing is one of the most important steps to a great cup of coffee. Just remember, the coffee beans should not be ground more than two minutes prior to the beginning of brewing.

There are two main types of coffee grinders on the market today, namely the burr grinder and the blade grinder. The blade grinder has a single blade that looks and spins like a propeller. The blade grinders do not have settings - so the longer you grind, the finer the grind becomes. Blade grinders are fine for drip coffee makers, but for espresso or other coffee drinks that require very specific grinds, the blade grinder would not be recommended since it does not grind consistently.

The burr grinder has either flat burrs or conical burrs. The coffee beans are drawn between the two burrs and the beans are crushed into a uniform size. The burr grinders do have settings and an exact coarseness or fineness of grind may be selected. This is why the burr grinders are highly recommended for espresso, but can also be used for other types of grinds as well.

Each brewing method requires that the coffee bean of a specific grind size. The following is a general guideline describing the basic grind requirement for use in coffee makers:

Coarse grind: This grind would be used in a percolator, a Neapolitan, or a stovetop espresso coffee pot.

Medium-Course grind: This grind would be used in a French press or metal coffee maker with gold or stainless steel filters.

Medium grind: This grind would be used in drip coffee makers.

Fine grind: This grind would be used in the espresso machines.

Extra fine grind: This grind would be used in vacuum pots or some older Espresso machines.

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Would you believe that in France, alone, there are over 400 types of cheese that can be found? But when the word ‘cheese’ is mentioned and someone would ask what types of cheese he would be able to name, for sure, cottage cheese will be one of them.

Cottage cheese derived its name from ‘cottages’ where the cheeses are made, literally. It is prepared atop stoves homes found in the rural areas. People who originally manufactured the ‘real thing’ let nature take its course by leaving the milk to coagulate and turn sour.

It is a product of cheese curd but unlike most cheese, which is dehydrated and has color, this type retains its whey content because it is only drained, not pressed dry. Unlike its relatives, it does not undergo aging (maturation process) and it is also washed to give it its different taste - sweet and mildly flavored.

When it is hard pressed, the end products are farmer cheese, hoop cheese, pot cheese or Queso blanco (blanco meaning ‘white’). In Sweden, cottage cheese is commonly called ‘Keso’.

A naturally manufactured cottage cheese is made from fresh milk, rennet and mesophilic starter culture (this would help grow ‘good bacteria’ which is needed in giving it its flavor and aids in coagulation). It is very rare to find natural cottage cheese nowadays. Commercialization of this product has made it easier to make at a shorter period of time.

The commercially prepared version, however, are made from curds that were prepared using skim milk or other milk products that are low in fat. This usually alters the original flavor. So if one were used to the commercial types that flood the supermarkets, then they would be astonished to find out that these products have deviated from the original ‘tanginess’ of the natural version.

If one is curious in tasting the genuine cottage cheese, the closest one could get to the flavor is the manufactured product, which is low in fat, cultured and named Nancy’s. The Springfield Creamery over at Eugene, Ore, prepares this.

What nutrients can one get from eating cottage cheese? Again, as compared to all other cheeses, it has low fat (5 grams where 3 grams are saturated fat), low carbohydrates (3 grams) and is high in protein content (14 grams).

If you are aiming for a sculpted body that is full of muscles and well toned, then cottage cheese is the right food for you. Most people overlook the low carbohydrate content of it. But looking at it, this low-carb food, which is high in protein, feeds the body of its needed nutrients during a strict diet.

It also has sodium (500 milligrams), 120 calories and 20 milligrams of cholesterol. These values are computed against a 113-gram serving.

Some very interesting trivia about cottage cheese:

1. President Nixon loved to eat it together with catsup or black pepper (or both).
2. To make 15 pounds of it, one needs to use 100 pounds of milk.

If one is bored with eating it alone, there are several ways that it can be served. One good way is to follow President Nixon’s recipe, which is to put a dash of pepper before plopping it into your mouth. It can be eaten like a ‘tapioca pudding’ (just add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla flavor and a packet of artificial sweetener for every 1/2 cup of cottage cheese).

Cottage cheese is best eaten with fruits such as blueberry, strawberry, peaches, banana or pineapple. If one is concerned with the fructose content, however, a flavored drink mix could be used as a substitute for the fruits.

Speaking of ‘yumminess’, here are a few more of those recipes that use cottage cheese. You could research these recipes online:

1. Chocolate Mousse
2. Lemon Cherry Cheesecake Pie
3. Broccoli bread with Onion and Cottage Cheese
4. Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
5. All Day Macaroni and Cheese (Crockpot)

Cottage cheese is all good. When you’re aiming for good health, then this should be a part of your diet. It’s tasty and nutritious, so what is there to lose?

Lee Dobbins writes for http://cheese.topicgiant.com where you can learn more about making cheese, cheese recipes and different types of cheese like cottage cheese.