Chicken and Rice - Easy, Healthy, AND Gourmet?

I know what you're thinking! Sure, chicken is easy and yes, it can be healthy, but can it really be gourmet? Absolutely! It's all in the presentation. Grab a pen and paper; here's how you do it.

Preferably, it's a heck of a lot easier to use an electric frying pan. This way you can make your sauce. Add about 2 Tbls. of extra light virgin olive oil into your pan. Take two nice size garlic cloves, peel them, smack them with a knife, chop them up and put them in your pan. Slice up some red onion (about 3 inches long and a half inch thick). Quarter a handful of mushrooms and sauté them on low along with the onion and garlic. This is a great meal with a yummy Pinot Grigio so I'll pour myself a glass and use about a quarter cup of it to throw into the sauté. Let that reduce a little and stir it around a few times. Next, add about 2 or 3 Tbls. of Balsamic Vinegar (I like Colavita because it's a little sweeter), stir and cover. Onto the next station!

Now, rinse off the boneless, skinless chicken breasts, removing all of the fat. I used 3 7 oz. breasts. Turn up the pan to about 300 and sear the breasts tenderloin side down first. After about a minute and a half, turn the chicken over and repeat the sear. Turn down the pan to about 200 and add two cups of water. Once the liquid begins to boil again, add a teaspoon and a ½ of low sodium, plain chicken broth paste. Stir it around so it dissolves properly. Add about a quarter size amount of Thyme on top of the chicken along with some fresh ground pepper. Startin' to sound good yet? Now, you just let it go! Onto the next station!

You can do this with really any kind of rice. My personal favorite is jasmine white (because it's not as mushy) but you could do whatever you like. Also, you could even dress up your rice a little by using some slices almonds or cashews. Cook your rice about a half hour before you would like to eat but make sure that it's not too mushy. This way, you're not pressured. Anyway, the longer the chicken is in the sauce, the yummier it will be! You just want to make sure that you stir it and turn them every 10 minutes or so and keep the temp down to 200. Make sure that you keep about 2 cups of liquid in the pan at all times.

Ready to eat? Okay, remove the chicken and cut it into slices or chunks (whatever suites you best). Take a 1 ½ tsp and mix it with a small amount of cold water (maybe a ¼ cup of water). Pour the mixture into the sauce and stir. Once it gets a little thicker, add another teaspoon to a ¼ cup of water and do it again. Add the chicken to the sauce and stir it up. Let the sauce cook for about 10 minutes... stir it often. You want the sauce to be thick enough to coat the chicken nicely. Onto the next station!

Here's where the presentation comes in. Now I'm one of those people who would use his or her "nice stuff" any time I could. So, my philosophy is, if you've got it, use it! While you're messing around in the kitchen, finely julienne some pretty peppers. Red, orange and yellow are my favorite because they add some really nice color to the dish. Sauté them just enough to be limp and you can either clump a little bit onto the plate or spread it out a little. You don't want it over powering that's all. Ladle about a cup and a ½ of rice onto the plate. Now make a small pocket into the top of the rice. Ladle a nice amount of sauce into the top of the pocket. Add your chicken to the top and garnish your plate with your peppers and the final touch which is a nice piece of herb. I like to use rosemary sprigs because they're so pretty. But you could use virtually anything I suppose.

Viola! You have now created Chicken and Rice dish that is EASY, HEALTHY and GOURMET!

Fruit and Wine - Delicious and Elegant Gift Baskets

Sometimes deciding what to bring to an event or what kind of gift to give someone for a present is absolutely stumping. However, it is often really simple to satisfy virtually anyone with a gift basket. Because so many people love wines, and because certain fruits seem to go perfectly with certain wines – a fruit and wine basket is definitely an idea to consider. People also love wine and cheese baskets, as well as wine baskets with pastries etc.

You could even create a unique combination of the above for the perfect gift basket to best suit your needs for the occasion, event or individual. For example: have a nice array of fruit pastries with a few types of cheese and a bottle of wonderfully aged white chardonnay or perhaps a merlot with several cheeses and cheese pastries. You could even include a little of everything – as well as fresh fruits such as a bunch of grapes and a few strawberries that make a delicious treat, as well as a colorful garnish for your basket.

As you may have gathered, often you can custom design your gift baskets especially to fit virtually any circumstances. A birthday for a loved one, an anniversary present, an anniversary party, a corporate party, or even an intervention . . . ok, just kidding, but a fresh fruit and wine gift basket may be perfect for even a pot—luck event.

Many wine enthusiasts love fresh fruits to savor along with the flavor of high quality wines. And there are delicious fresh fruits, pastries, cheeses and candies of virtually all kinds that will go perfect in a gift basket for your friends and family members, or for anyone else, for that matter. A fresh fruit gift basket would be a great idea for a bigger event as well, and there are many kinds of fruit and wine gift baskets that may be a great answer to your problem.

When you know what will surprise them, what their particular tastes are, or even a little less you can still find the perfect gift basket. When you purchase or custom design a fresh fruit and wine gift as a present you can (for lack of a better phrase) put all your ideas in one basket. The cost of your gift basket will vary, obviously, depending on the situation.

If you know that a wine gift basket will work perfectly for any specific event but you are unfamiliar with wines in general, do not worry. There are, of course, pre-designed wine and fresh fruit gift baskets that are available by professional wine enthusiasts (and experts in the art of wine tasting) for your convenience.

An Indian Curry That Dares to Combine Amzaing Spices and Shrimp - WOW

Welcome to the Gourmet Indian Recipe Series. Today is the spicy dish that you thought would never happen.... 2 of your favourite ingredients and dishes combined into One Taste Sensation.....Madras Shrimp Curry

Seafood dishes are prominent along the coastline of India, where the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Indian Ocean offer rich bounties of fish and shellfish. Jungle areas of India offer mangoes, guava, papaya, bananas, and coconuts. However the use of shrimps or prawns, depending on which part of the world you hail from, is relatively new and untired in many ways given the unique texture and taste of it. However this particular not only expertly combines them it offers a rare treat for your mouth that is unlikely to be matched.

Ingredients: 3 tbsp. canola oil, 1 medium onion coarsely chopped, 1 tbsp. fresh ginger grated & peeled, 1 1/2 tsp. garlic minced, 1 1/2 tbsp. Madras curry powder, 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk, 1 cup chicken stock or low sodium chicken broth, 1 1/2 lb. medium shrimp shelled and deveined, salt to taste, cayenne pepper, 2 tbsp. mint finely chopped, 1/2 tsp. lemon zest finely grated, steamed rice for serving

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet until shimmering.

2. Add onion and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to brown (about 7 minutes).

3. Add ginger, garlic and curry and cook, stirring, until fragrant (about 2 minutes).

4. Add coconut milk and stock and simmer over medium heat until reduced by 1/3 and thickened (about 8 minutes).

5. Add shrimp, season with salt and cayenne and simmer over medium heat until the shrimp are pink and cooked through (about 5 minutes).

6. Stir in the mint and lemon zest and serve in deep bowls over steamed rice.

BON APÉTIT.....

Orange Fruit Products

Orange Blossom Honey � This variety of honey is actually a citrus honey. This variety is quite costly but it is very much tastier and it tastes much like an orange. Basically everyone loves to taste honey. In particular Orange Blossom honey with a good taste will really be liked and loved by people and also they enjoy the taste and flavor of the honey.

Terry�s Chocolate Orange � It is the most famous and legendary chocolate product which was contrived by Kraft Foods Company and it was put on the market for sale only in UK. Initially it was sold only in United Kingdom but now it has been in the market all over the world. It just appears like a sphere-shaped ball and the chocolate is mixed with Orange oil and the chocolate is alienated into segmented which gives a very similar look as a real orange fruit and it is swathed in orange colored foil. At times of package the segments are jammed together and it is kept ready to eat and flavor the taste of the chocolate.

Orange Drink � Orange drink just refers to a tasty, flavored, sweet, sugary orange flavored drink. The most familiar orange drinks are Tang, Orange Squash, Sunny Delight and Orange Julius. Orange Julius is a combination of ice, white powder and orange juice. Orange Drink is manufactured and marketed by a company called Dairy Maid on Bahamian island of New Providence. Orange drinks are tasty, rich flavored and they are with a good taste. Orange Drink gives energy and freshness to the body.

Orange Crush � Orange Crush is a soft drink made out of oranges. Orange crush was manufactured in Chicago in the year 1906 by Thompson. Very sooner the drink became very much popular and it started spreading its popularity all over United States. In the mid of 20th century the availability of Orange crush started decreasing and its availability has been decreased considerably. Now it is available only in very few areas. The Crush brands are now griped by Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages. It is a company which sells the soft drinks in bottles and tins.

Club Orange � Club Orange is a very famous soft drink manufactured by Cantrell and Cochrane in Ireland. It is easy to prepare this soft drink and its ingredients are Orange juice, Sugar, Citric acid, Carbonated water, Orange fruit and sodium benzoate for preserving, apocarotenal, ascorbic acid and color beta carotene. It is easily identifiable by the orange fruit tissue that lingers in the soft drink after being formed. It is the most popular drink among the Irish people and it one of the most wanted and expected product among the people of Ireland.

Fanta � Fanta is an orange flavored soft drink. The ingredients required for preparing Spanish Fanta Orange formulation is citric acid, sucrose, carbonated water, sodium benzoate, sugar, orange juice, gum arabic, guar gum, ascorbic acid and food coloring. It is the most popular drink all over the world and this drink is marketed in cans, bottles and tin. People love to have chilled Fanta at times of hot summer and hot sunny day. Fanta comes in different flavor like orange flavor, lemon flavor and apple flavor. Among this Orange flavor is the most wanted drink among the people.