In high school, learning a new recipe (especially dessert recipes) was always my favorite part of a foreign language and culture class. One day during German in my sophomore year, I teamed up with two other classmates to make German Crumble Cake from a magazine. It was quite good, if I do say so myself. Seven years later, it continues to be one of my favorite desserts to bake.

Handling this German dessert recipe is a real ‘hands on’ experience, as you’ll see. And like other German desserts, it contains a hefty bit of butter. But it’s worth it. Enjoy!

German Crumble Cake

Dough:

• 2 sticks of butter

• 1 cup of sugar

• 4 cups of flour

• 1 teaspoon of baking soda (make sure it’s SODA, not POWDER…I made that mistake once and…ick!)

• 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

• 1 pinch of salt

• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch

Filling:

• 3 cups of fresh fruit or a can of fruit

• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch

• sugar for flavor

1) Mix all ingredients for the dough together by hand so that it becomes crumbly. (You can use a baking board or a large bowl).

2) Grease a cake pan and press half of the crumble into the bottom of the pan.

3) Cook fruit with cornstarch in a medium pot or pan for

2 minutes, and spread the fruit filling on the dough.

4) Sprinkle the rest of the dough onto the fruit, and bake for about 40 minutes at around 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remember, ovens may vary. Yours may be faster or slower or require less or more degrees Fahrenheit. It also depends on how dark the pan you use is. Be sure to keep checking on the crumble cake every few minutes. When the top is nice and brown, then it should be ready.

Even if your German Crumble Cake didn’t turn out exactly right, not to worry. Nobody says you have to be a professional. I’m certainly not. My philosophy with food has always been “As long as it tastes good, I don’t care if it’s imperfect.”

Try experimenting with the recipe. I usually never follow recipes to the letter. For this one, I use a bigger glass pan and only 2 cans of fruit. Figure out what works for you. Practice making this German dessert recipe and any other desserts, and you’ll eventually settle into your own style of baking, like every other individual.

About The Author

Discover More Tried and True Dessert Recipes Now That Will Have Your Sweet Tooth Screaming with Delight At http://www.koripuckett.com/just-desserts

Cucumbers are a good source of vitamins’ C, A and K. They are loaded with potassium and low in cholesterol, sodium and saturated fat. That’s all the information you are going to get from me on that subject. These are my own home recipes and I wouldn’t know where to start counting their calories. Relax, enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Greek Salad

1 or 2 fresh-picked cucumbers

1 head of iceberg lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces

3 medium sized fresh tomatoes, sliced

1 small red onion

1 green pepper, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 pound Feta cheese

½ cup pitted Greek olives

½ cup pitted black olives

Italian herbal style dressing

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Crumble the Feta cheese evenly over the top of

the salad and then add the olives on top of that. To keep the salad from wilting, don’t add the dressing until you are ready to serve.

Makes 4 large or 8 small servings.

Simple Cucumber Salad

2 or 3 Fresh picked cucumbers, sliced

1/3 cup of red wine vinegar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Combine the vinegar and sugar in a medium sized bowl and mix until sugar is dissolved. Toss in the cucumbers and voila! This recipe can also be used with fresh tomatoes or for a real taste treat, use both together.

Robin Svedi is the contributing editor for Fresh Cooking from your Garden, http://www.gardenandhearth.com/gardencooking.htm , where you will find more delicious recipes for your fresh vegetables and gardening tips to help you grow your own.

This recipe is an experience for anyone, it’s kind of unique and very different from today’s baking, today all you need to do is go to the market and pick something off of the shelf, put it in the microwave and you have it.

Well I’m old fashion when it is something I’m going to eat and enjoy, I need to have hands on and do it the old way.

OK enough jabber let’s get on with the recipe so we can enjoy it, remember your ingredients should be room temperature or close to it.

Ingredients for dough:

5 cups unsifted flour

1 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

pinch of salt

½ pound butter softened

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

4 egg yolks

½ pint sour cream

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

Ingredients for filling:

2 ½ cups ground walnuts

½ cup sugar for nuts

jam or lekvar or whatever you like

Sift together 5 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda.

Add the butter, shortening, 4 egg yolks, ½ pint sour cream, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla and of course the pinch of salt.

Combine all of these ingredients in your processor

or mixer.

Divide dough into 3 parts, roll out the first piece and place it onto a 10 ½ inch x 15 ½ inch cookie sheet.

Mix together:

2 ½ cups ground walnuts

½ cup sugar for nuts

jam or lekvar or whatever you like

Spread some of this mixture onto the first layer of dough, then roll out another piece of dough and place it on top of the filling, put some more of the filling on top of the second layer of dough, now with the third piece of dough roll it out and create a lattice top on your creation.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes, cool and cut.

Now enjoy what you have made.

Andrew Krause is a Chef and Pastry Chef for over 30 years, at persent I own a Gourmet Bakery called The Cheese Confectioner.

You can visit my site athttp://www.andies.cashhosters2.com

NOTE: You are welcome to reprint this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the about the author info at the end). Please send a copy of your reprint to pastrie@verizon.net

I ran into a friend yesterday, who tells me that he should be harvesting eggplants from his garden any day now. Of course, this got me thinking about Caponata, the famous Sicilian eggplant and tomato stew.

This is a terrific ‘contorno’, vegetable course, and also a great topping for ‘bruschetta’, Tuscany’s grilled bread. Of course it’s one of the quintessential Italian antipasti too. And when you can walk into your own garden and harvest the vegetables to put it together, Caponata becomes all the more magical.

Italians have a particular fondness for ‘le primizie’, the smallest of the first crop of vegetables. So if you have access to a garden—either your own or a friend’s—or if you can get to a farm stand, now is the time for you to be thinking about caponata too.

The recipe below is excerpted from my first cookbook, “La Cucina dei Poveri.”

My Grandmother’s Caponata

When the garden was in full swing during the summer, Noonie (my grandmother) would harvest—well, more accurately, she would direct Pop (my grandfather) to harvest some eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers for this delicious antipasto that she referred to as ‘Caponatina. My recollections fail as to how she served it, but I’m betting that it was over a piece of Italian bread that Pop had fried in olive oil.

Nowadays, I serve it over bruschetta made from some good Tuscan bread which—I’m happy to report—seems to be turning up more and more frequently at supermarket bakeries.

Ingredients:

• 4 Tbs. Olive oil

• 2 Cloves garlic, peeled, and thinly sliced

• 1 Medium onion, peeled, and chopped

• 1 Medium eggplant

  (approximately 1 1/4 Lb.) cut into 1 inch cubes

• 2 Medium bell peppers

• 1/4 Lb. Green olives, pits removed

• 1 Tbs. Capers

• 1 Cup Italian plum tomatoes, roughly chopped

• 1/4 Cup sugar

• 1/4Cup red wine vinegar

• 1/2 Cup raisins

• 2 Tbs. Fresh mint, chopped

• 1/4 tsp. Red pepper flakes

Preparation:

Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat, then add the garlic. Sauté until the garlic just begins to give off its aroma—perhaps a minute or two. Add the onion and sauté for about five minutes, until it becomes translucent.

Add the eggplant and sauté for about five minutes or until it begins to soften, but still has plenty of texture. Add the peppers, olives, and capers and sauté until the peppers become tender. Add the tomatoes and continue cooking to incorporate the tomatoes with the other ingredients and to begin to form a sauce.

Add the sugar, spreading it evenly over the pan, then the vinegar, raisins, mint, and red pepper flakes. Stir well to blend all the ingredients, then remove from the heat.

Italians typically serve Caponata at room temperature.

Serves four to six.

About The Author

Skip Lombardi is the author of two cookbooks: “La Cucina dei Poveri: Recipes from my Sicilian Grandparents,” and “Almost Italian: Recipes from America’s Little Italys.” He has been a Broadway musician, high-school math teacher, software engineer, and a fledgeling blogger. But he has never let any of those pursuits get in the way of his passion for cooking and eating. Visit his Web site to learn more about his cookbooks. http://www.skiplombardi.com or contact Mr. Lombardi at

info@skiplombardi.com

Crepes are a wonderfully versatile food that can be enjoyed for breakfast, dinner and even appetizer. Here is an asparagus crepes recipe that can be served as either an appetizer or coupled with soup for a light lunch.

Asparagus Crepes

18 Small Crepes, about 2 inches in diameter (recipe below)

1 Bundle of tender young asparagus spears, or a package of frozen asparagus spears

5 oz Creamy cheese with herbs, such as brie with herbs

1 Tbs Butter

1 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Break the ends off asparagus so the tips are about 3 inches long. Cook the asparagus tips in a skillet with the butter and olive oil until tender crisp.

Spread the softened room temperature cheese on each crepe. Place one asparagus spear on each crepe. Roll the crepes. Serve at room temperature.

To make the crepes.

1 Cup Flour

¾ Cup Water

¾ Cup Milk, whole or 2%

3 Eggs

2 Tbs Butter, melted and cooled

¼ tsp Salt

Whisk the eggs until foamy then add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until smooth. Cool in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.

Remove from the refrigerator and stir. The batter should be the consistency of heavy cream. If the batter is too thick stir in 1 tsp of water at a time. If the batter is too thin

whisk in 1 Tbs of flour at a time.

Cook the crepes like pancakes in a small skillet or crepe pan. You may need to tilt the pan from side to side in order to spread the batter into a thin crepe. When the first side of the crepe has browned flip the crepe for just a couple seconds. Use the first crepe as a test; they are easy to make just practice a bit.

Two tips when cooking crepes do not allow the skillet get too hot and separate the cooked crepes with a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper so they do not stick to one another.

Shauna Hanus is a gourmet cook who specializes in creating gourmet recipes. She has extensive experience cooking with easy to find grocery items to create delightful gourmet meals. She now has available the Recipe of the Month Club. This is a way for you to give the gift of gourmet to all those people who love to cook. With the Recipe of the Month Club you can give 3, 6 or 12 months of new and exciting gourmet recipes as a gift for Christmas, Hanukah or birthdays to all the cook-aholics in your life. Find out more at http://www.cookbookaddict.com

Ingredients

Romaine Lettuce (head $1.29)

1 pound of steak ($10 per pound)

1 box of colorful pasta ($1.03 Blue’s Clues because my inner child sways me at times.)

1 red pepper ($2.62)

Blue Cheese dressing ($2.43)

½ pound block of blue cheese ($3.79 optional ingredient)

*Save money everywhere but in buying the meat. Cheap meat is too tough for this.

Wash and shred lettuce. Put it in the refrigerator so that it remains cold and crispy at serving time.

Then, cook pasta until tender but not downright floppy. We want the pasta to be somewhat cooler, so in this instance, it’s okay to rinse it off with cool water a little bit so it no longer steams.

Meanwhile, cut steak into slices and sear with salt and pepper. Do this in a shallow pan and a tablespoon of oil in the pan. As the meat cooks, toss it around a bit. When it starts sticking to the pan, you’re done in thirty seconds.

As the steak finishes, wash and half the red pepper. Faux roast a half on an electric range or carefully roast a half on a gas

stove so that the outside is dark and toasty. While the pepper can still keep its shape, remove it carefully from the heat and slice lengthwise. It’s a lovely and tasty garnish with dramatic flair during cooking!

Assembly for presentation:

Toss the lettuce and cooled pasta together evenly. Now add enough dressing to coat the pasta and lettuce in a toss. Put this tossed mix as a bed on a plate or in a bowl. With clean fingers, crumble some of the wedge of blue cheese. Now place the steak strips on top in no particular pattern. Lightly drizzle with blue cheese dressing (diners can add more to taste). Finally, garnish the top with the most aesthetic strips of red pepper providing remaining slices for your companion.

What you have is a colorful and healthy salad for the human omnivore. Most every need of nutrition is encompassed in this attractive dish that goes well with red wine, water, or even cola for the kiddies.

——————————————————————————–

Bryan Applegate is >Online Cooking’s Associate Editor and does really cool things with 3d graphics!

The world has opened eyes to the harmful side-effects of non-veg food like red meat and is now opening arms to Vegetarian Food. A very common myth found among common man is that vegetarian food doesnt provide you with necessary nutrients but a Vegetarian Diet, in no ways, is deprived of necessary nutrients, only if you have a balanced Vegetarian Diet. Make sure you eat a lot of fruits and dont follow particular monotonous meals.

Some Nutrients you dont come across normally in Vegetarian Diets are:-

a) Iron

b) Calcium

c) Zinc

d) Protien

e) Vitamin D

f) Vitamin B12

But you can always have vegetarian source for these nutrients. On a other side of the coin, there are a lots of benifits of Vegetarian Food (incomplete). They are rich in:

. You can Find Iron in the following Vegetarian Food items:-Cashews, tomato juice, rice, garbanzo beans (chick peas) and tofu.

. You can Find Calcium in the following Vegetarian Food items:-Dairy products, fortified soymilk, fortified orange juice, tofu and broccoli.

. You can find Zinc in the following Vegetarian Food items:-Whole grains (especially the germ and bran of the grain), nuts, tofu, leafy vegetables (lettuce, spinach, cabbage), root vegetables

(onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, radishes), eggs and dairy products.

. You can find Protein in the following Vegetarian Food items:-Vegetarians must eat a variety of plant foods over the course of a day to get enough protein. Eg: Tempeh, miso lentils, tofu, nuts, seeds, and peas.

. You can find Vitamin D in the following Vegetarian Food items:-fortified cereals (or a small amount of sunlight) and Fortified milk and soymilk

. You can Vitamin B12 in the following Vegetarian Food items:-Tempeh, miso, eggs, dairy products, fortified soymilk and cereals.. Tempeh and miso are foods made from soybeans.

They are low in calories and fat and high in protein.

Know more about Balanced Diet at http://www.weightloss-health.com/balanced_diet.htm

About the Author: Jasdeep Singh

For http://weightloss-health.com/ your complete and most comprehensive family guide on Health.

Also get free sample low carb recipes, low fat recipes, low calorie recipes, low sodium recipes, low sugar recipes at Low Carb Recipes and Diet

If you wish to reproduce the above article you are welcome to do so, provided the article is reproduced in its entirety, including this resource box and LIVE link to our website.

It’s nice when I find a meal where the foods compliment each other because it simplifies my life by knowing what to serve with what. Of course I don’t have to stick to any one meal plan; I can mix and match the main dishes and sides, but a lot of the time I’m in a hurry and don’t have a lot of time to think about it. I already have quite a few meals like this up my sleeve, but when I find a NEW one to add to my collection I get happy because it adds a little more variety to our meal choices.

I’d like to share some of my new and old meal plans with you in hopes of helping you with the question `what do I make for dinner’. Here’s a meal that we have tried lately where the foods complimented each other really well. The food items aren’t necessarily new for us, but the flavors are and that makes a big difference.

The Meal:

• Honey Barbecue Meatloaf

• Ranch Mashed Potatoes

• Your choice of vegetable (I just heat up a can of green beans or corn)

• Apple Cinnamon Muffins with Honey Cinnamon Butter

Make Ahead Tips: You can make the Honey Cinnamon Butter ahead of time and refrigerate until serving. You can also prepare the meat loaf and refrigerate it before baking.

The Recipes:

Honey Barbecue Meat Loaf

I’m not usually a meat loaf eater but I love this one and the family does too.

In a large bowl, stir together soup mix, egg, oats, barbecue sauce, onion, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic powder, salt, pepper and chili powder. Add beef and mix well. Press into an ungreased 8-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350* for 1 hour. Top with ketchup. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until meat is no longer pink

and a meat thermometer reads 160*. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Ranch Mashed Potatoes

Make mashed potatoes as you usually do but omit the butter and add ranch dressing and cream cheese to taste along with less milk than usual. Top with grated cheddar cheese.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

My kids love these (so do I) and there’s never any leftovers because of this. We also make them for breakfast. Be sure to try them with `Honey Cinnamon Butter’ (recipe follows).

In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Add the egg, milk, oil and applesauce and stir until just moistened. Fold in apple. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. For topping, combine brown sugar and flour. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in oats. Sprinkle over muffins. Bake at 400* for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm with Honey Cinnamon Butter (recipe follows). Yield: 1 dozen.

Honey Cinnamon Butter

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl; beat until smooth. Serve with muffins, toast, bagels, French toast or pancakes. Refrigerate any leftovers. Yield: 1 1/3 cups.

In the meantime, keep your eyes open for Meal Two.

About The Author

Copyright, Monica Resinger

Monica Resinger is editor of Creative Home, Creative Gardening and Creative Home Money ezines. Join one or all of these fun and informative ezines and get answers to your homemaking, gardening or money questions! Our readers are sure to have an answer for you. One informative article is also included in each issue. For more information, go to: http://www.geocities.com/plantldy.geo or send a blank e-mail to the appropriate address to join: CreativeHome-subscribe@egroups.com; CreativeGardening-subscribe@egroups.com; CreativeHomeMoney-subscribe@egroups.com

Beat the heat with these cool summer treats!

Mouse Popsicles

It’s not what you’re thinking! The name refers to the size of the popsicle—not the contents. Wash a bowl of seedless grapes, and then set the grapes in the freezer for about an hour. Poke colored toothpicks into the grapes to serve.

Juice Pops

Summer isn’t complete without homemade juice popsicles. Simply fill a popsicle mold or an ice tray with your favorite fruit juice. Cover the ice tray with clear plastic wrap and poke a toothpick through the plastic into each square. Place the tray into the freezer until the popsicles are frozen solid.

Frozen Monkey Treats

Here is a healthy snack that your kids will go bananas for! Peel a banana and cut it in half. Insert popsicle sticks into the cut ends. Dip the bananas into yogurt or melted chocolate, and then roll the bananas in

chopped nuts, crushed cereal, or coconut shavings. Place the bananas on a small waxed paper-lined baking sheet and set the sheet into the freezer for an hour or so. Fun to make and even more fun to eat!

Fruit Fizzy

Don’t plan your summer party without this refreshing drink. Pour one can of Sprite (it doesn’t have caffeine) into a blender, along with small ice cubes. Add several large strawberries, a handful of blueberries, or other favorite fruit to the mix. Blend the mixture until it has the texture of a slush. Pour into a glass and garnish with a cherry on top.

About The Author

Deborah Shelton is a mother, freelance writer, and author of the brand new book, “The Five Minute Parent: Fun & Fast Activities for You and Your Little Ones.” Visit Deborah’s website for more family-friendly ideas:

http://www.fiveminuteparent.com; deborah@fiveminuteparent.com

The Microwave Generation of the 1990′s has now finished school and stands ready to step forward into the competitive marketplace. It goes without saying that the workplace is a fiercely competitive place but the marketplace most young adults (and, unfortunately, the newly divorced) have the most difficulty with is “formal” dating.

Being a hardened veteran of the dating scene (I didn’t marry until after forty), there are many “tricks of the trade” that I developed that always kept me a step ahead of my sports car driving, surgically built competitors who always were the center of attention as soon as they entered the room. So, when you find that special someone, step one is to make them feel special. There is an old adage that says, “The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” and how true it is. It is simplistic, but men love to be mothered and any woman willing to take the time to make a home cooked meal for him is going to rise on the “dating ladder.” Men who cook, on the other hand, are elevated to the status of “Sensitive Man” and in most women’s eyes “Sensitive Man” is a clear-cut winner in the long term competition with “Flashy Guy”.

So, the answer is a romantic dinner for two at your place but your cooking skills are limited to EasyMac or microwave popcorn. Don’t panic! Below is a recipe that is simple and will make you look like you have been doing this for years. Don’t overlook the obvious though. Clean up your apartment. Light some fresh smelling candles (you can get them at the drug store) or get some fragrance sprays. First impressions are everything and the proper aroma can set the tone for a romantic evening. Enjoy!

Simple Chicken Pepperoni

You will need:

1) A 10″x14″ casserole dish (8″x8″ will do in a pinch),

2) 2 cans (10 3/4 oz.) of Cream of Chicken Soup ,

3) 1 can (10 3/4 oz.) of Campbell’s Ranchero Tomato Soup ,

4) 1 small package of sliced pepperoni ,

5)1 package of dry onion soup mix ,

6) 2 medium sized red peppers ,

7) 1 medium sized green pepper ,

1 large Vidalia onion ,

9) 4 BONELESS chicken breast (completely thawed, if necessary), 9) Corn oil Spray (Pam or the like),

10) A package of flavored rice (Lipton Side Rices are great but, don’t go way out on a limb. Stick with Chicken flavor, Rice Pilaf or something along those lines)

First rinse of your chicken and take a sharp knife and trim away anything that you wouldn’t want to eat (fat etc.) and set aside. Next, take your three peppers (both red and green) and cut the top off of each, just below the stem. Discard the stems and slice each pepper down the middle from top to bottom. Take each pepper half and, using a standard table spoon, scrap out the seeds and the lighter colored portions of the interior of the peppers. Slice these peppers

LENGTHWISE in 1/4″ wide strips. When you are done, pile your peppers up, facing basically the same direction and chop across them, making them, each, 1/2 of their original length. Set aside. After that prepare your onion by slicing 1/4″ off both the top and the bottom. Peel the outer skin of the onion off and then slice it WIDTHWISE into 4 or 5 equal portions (1/4″ more or less). Lay these slices flat and slice the “circles” into 4 equal “triangles”. Crumple these up a bit and set aside. In a bowl (large enough to hold three cans of soup), empty your two cans of Cream of Chicken soup, 1/2 of your can of Ranchero Tomato soup and 1/3 to 1/2 of your onion soup mix packet. Mix, with a large spoon, until the color is consistent. Set aside. After that, set your oven at 350 degrees and let it pre-heat.

While your oven is pre-heating, spray the inside of your casserole dish with your corn oil spray, making sure that it is completely covered but not runny. At this stage, take your sliced pepperoni and cover the bottom of your casserole dish. The pepperoni pieces can overlap a bit but, basically lay out the pieces like tile, completely covering the bottom of the dish. Take your onions and peppers and evenly distribute them over the pepperoni. Pour half of your soup mixture over the top of the dish contents. Place your chicken breasts, flat and evenly spaced, over the vegetables. Pour the remaining soup mixture over the top of the chicken and cover the dish tightly with tin foil (with the smaller dish you may need to compress the mixture a bit). Place dish on the shelf closest to the middle of the oven and leave for at least two hours. NOTE-If your dish seems overly full, press the mixture down some and include a cookie sheet or tin foil under your dish in the oven! As the vegetables cook the mixture will “fit” the dish better.

After your two hours is up, extract the dish and remove the tin foil and leave aside to cool for 15 minutes. While you are waiting, cook your rice according to package directions (these things are tough to mess up) and put the finished product in a nice serving bowl. Transport the food to the table, light some candles and wait for the complements!

Bo Walker is the Webmaster for OnlineCountryStore.com, a site that celebrates life at home with informative articles and inexpensive home and garden accessories, gifts, kitchenware and discount furniture. For informative articles go to http://onlinecountrystore.com/home_spun_solutions.html. For a wide product selection go to http://onlinecountrystore.com/index2.html.

You may use this article as long as you leave the article as is (you do not have to include pictures), including the author information, and website link (http://www.onlinecountrystore.com). No additional permission from the author is needed but notification at vendorrelations@onlinecountrystore.com would be appreciated!