Croc pot cooking recipes

There is a delicate battle that we fight each day. We have too little time to cook but we are also trying to eat almost all of our meals that are cooked at home from scratch using ingredients that we often buy fresh and organic. It ain't easy. After spending a long day at work, the last thing you want to do is to spend an hour in the kitchen cooking. One of the many things that you can do to survive is to try croc pot cooking and Grace Parisi has some great recipes in this video.

Thanksgiving side dish recipes

One of the easiest ways to celebrate Thanksgiving is to simply stick to the rulebook and do what has been done for ages, but when you make minor changes in your menu or how the day plays out, you are putting your personal stamp on the holiday. As far as we are concerned, we always need to make minor changes in our menu to take care of our friends and family members who are increasingly either vegans or vegetarians plus our reluctance to eat turkey for the rest of the year. If you want to stick to the traditions, that is fine too, but one of the simplest things to personalize your holiday is to try a new side dish. Here are some great recipes to try.

Christmas eve dinner menu and recipes

Like all of our meals, we relied heavily on use of organic, fresh vegetables and tried to keep the calories to a minimum for our dinner.

The appetizer was zucchini rolls. They are very easy to make. Simply cut thin stripes of zucchini and then grill them till they are soft. You can stuff them with anything you like but we used goat cheese with salad greens. Simply role it up and insert a tooth pick to hold them in place. here is how they look.
The salad was also made from grilled vegetables (Japanese egglplants and bell peppers) and greens. We also sprinkled some walnuts and fresh mozzarella cheese.
The soup was made from mushrooms (like the cream of mushroom but without the cream - added just a little bit of milk). We added chestnuts puree for added flavor.
The main dish was shrimp with vegetables in a light, creamy sauce. We ate it with focaccia bread.
The dessert was pears poached in red wine. Here is the recipe for pears in wine. I like it chilled but you can also serve it warm.