(10 seconds each to read and are almost that quick to prepare)
By Lisa Messinger
Food and Cooking at Creators Syndicate
Public speaking, moving, starting a new job: These are often listed in polls among the most stressful things in life. Usually, not far behind is throwing a party. However, that anxiety is mostly misplaced. There are lots of quick and easy tricks you can tuck inside the sleeve of your party outfit, like mixing a dynamic liqueur into chili the way ordinary ale often is or creating an ice cream flavor for your guest of honor.
Food preparation - whether for every day or a great gala - can be easy, nutritious, inexpensive, fun - and fast - as these split-second sensations prove. They take just
10 seconds each to read and are almost that quick to prepare. The dishes are delicious proof that everyone has time for tasty home cooking and, more importantly, the healthy family time in the kitchen that goes along with it! Another benefit: You effortlessly become a better cook, since
there are no right or wrong amounts. These are virtually-can't-go-wrong combinations, so whatever you - or your kidlet helpers - choose to use can't help but draw "wows" at your next fiesta!
APPETIZERS
Cheers for Homemade Chips
The trend in the supermarket chip aisle is gourmet chips. Choices like a spicy and sophisticated Garden Salsa variety from whole-grain Sun Chips and "Artisan Recipes" Fire-Roasted Chipotle Tostitos abound. Those are excellent, but it's also easy to prepare your own creations.
Some ideas (for each, preheat oven to 300 F and place tortilla chips on a baking sheet that's been lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and then also lightly spray the chips with the nonstick cooking spray before topping and placing in oven for 5 minutes, or until warmed):
- A la Sun Chips' other new flavor, sprinkle your tortilla chips with cayenne and then top with very finely diced small amounts of jalapeno (wearing latex gloves when chopping and not touching your eyes during or afterward) and Monterey Jack cheese.
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Top with dashes of dried oregano, cumin, curry powder and freshly ground black pepper.
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For a sweet treat, top with sugar substitute, ground cinnamon and cocoa powder.
FUN FEASTS
Customized Chili
Pep up store-bought or homemade chili with any of the following appealing add-ins:
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Broken pieces of dark chocolate, root beer, ground cinnamon and a small amount of plump golden and dark raisins.
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A bowl of albondigas (meatball and vegetable) soup or tortilla soup from your favorite Mexican take-out restaurant.
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Often folks add ale or beer to chili; it's a wonderful addition. For something more unique, before heating chili, mix in a few dashes of your favorite liqueur, like framboise, the French raspberry brandy, or amaretto, the famous almond liqueur.
DESSERTS
A Personalized Prized Dessert
Recently, like for singers Elton John and Jerry Garcia, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream named a flavor after comic talk show host Jimmy Fallon. "Late Night Snack" is vanilla ice cream with salty caramel and fudge-covered potato chips. Consider serving a concoction you title after your party's guest of honor based on their taste buds.
Some ideas:
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Berry lovers might enjoy sugar-free strawberry ice cream and raspberry sorbet mixed with small chocolate covered strawberries and dried blueberries.
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Baseball fans may like sugar-free vanilla ice cream mixed with roasted peanuts with a dash of honey mustard dressing swirled in. Or, for adults, a beer float, a la those of some recent famous restaurant chefs; just drop a scoop of compatibly flavored ice cream into your favorite flavored ale (like imported Samuel Smith's handcrafted organic strawberry from England).
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Candy admirers should appreciate mint chip sugar-free ice cream blended with chopped candy bars and mini jelly beans and topped with swirls of cotton candy instead of whipped cream.
QUICK TIP OF THE WEEK: Take into consideration the texture of foods in order to prepare split-second snacks. A packaged chewy granola bar filled with oats, nuts and dried fruit, for instance, is malleable. Just push it into the bottom and up the sides slightly of a coffee cup --- or even a Styrofoam cup if you're on the go --- and you've got a healthful "pie crust" that tastes better than many from even the "best" pie shops. Fill with sugar-free chocolate pudding and top with sugar-free whipped topping for a delectable and nutritious chocolate cream pie. On the other hand, if it's a crispy granola bar or cookie, crumble it and use as a topping for sugar-free ice cream, sorbet or oatmeal. This "texture test" can be applied to lots of products and ingredients that are secretly willing and able to do extra credit for you.
Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food and nutrition writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the National Council Against Health Fraud and author of seven food books, including the best-selling The Tofu Book: The New American Cuisine with 150 Recipes (Avery/Penguin Putnam) and Turn Your Supermarket into a Health Food Store: The Brand-Name Guide to Shopping for a Better Diet(Pharos/Scripps Howard). She writes two nationally syndicated food and nutrition columns for Creators Syndicate and had been a longtime newspaper food and health section managing editor, as well as managing editor of Gayot/Gault Millau dining review company. Lisa traveled the globe writing about top chefs for Pulitzer Prize-winning Copley News Service and has written about health and nutrition for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Reader's Digest, Woman's World and Prevention Magazine Health Books. Permission granted for use on Dr.Laura.com.
