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Gooey and brown, sometimes this appearance doesn’t seem appalling to us at all. Gross as it seems, sometimes you just shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, or in this case judge its taste by its appearance.

Made from ground peanuts and butter, peanut butter tastes more appealing than it actually looks. The gooey paste would melt in your mouth and its sweetness would seep through your taste buds. It goes well with pastries, crackers, or by itself. You can enjoy it off your fingers or lick it off a spoon, whichever you feel comfortable in doing.

A popular way to eat peanut butter would of course be with bread, Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or plain peanut butter on bread would definitely give you a good fill.

Over the years it has actually found its way into cookbooks not as not only as a main ingredient but also to add color and flavor to a lot of dishes. It also adds texture.

With the different countries around the world, it seems that different cultures have found their own distinct way to make use of peanut butter in different delicacies and meals that they could easily be proud of. It seems that this sweet stuff is no longer limit to cookies or pastries; it can now be used even with viands and anything that would go with rice or potatoes for that matter.

The next time you are feeling creative or in the mood to stir up something in the kitchen, try peanut butter, which knows what mouth-watering delicacy you may come up with.

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As the weather gets warmer on the east coast, more and more people are drawn to the outdoors to enjoy some warm weather cooking. Gone are the soups, and replaced are the stews. Steak grilling? Chili Cooking? Absolutely! Listed below are some of our favorite recipe dishes as we prepare for the warm months.

Barbecued Pot Roast

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 beef pot roast, 4 to 5 pounds
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• cayenne and cumin
• 1 cup water
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 2 cups sliced onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Go ahead and brown the meat either on a grill or in an oven. Add some cayenne and cumin for that added dash of “what the hell is that?”. Now add the tomato sauce, water. onion, and minced garlic. Cover and simmer for roughly 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Add the remaining ingredients, cover, and continue cooking for 1 1/2 hours longer, or until roast is tender.
Check the recipe every now and then, and add additional water if necessary. Take out the meat and remove excess fat. The recipe serves 5-7.

Beef and Pineapple Shish Ka Bobs

Otherwise known as sirloin beef kabobs with pineapple
INGREDIENTS:
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 2 1/2 pounds boneless beef top sirloin, cubed 1-inch
• 1 (8oz) can pineapple tidbits, drained
• 3 red bell pepper, cut in 1-inch chunks
• 2 jalapenos
• 2 red onions, cut in 1-inch wedges
• 8 long metal skewers
PREPARATION:
In a large plastic food bag, combine the soy sauce, honey, vinegar, ginger, garlic powder, oil, and green onion. Add sirloin cubes and marinate several hours or overnight.
This is the most important step. Whenever you marinate over night, make sure you do NOT leave the marinate uncovered. Sometimes marinades will pick up other smells from food around the bowl, so be aware of that.
Drain the meat when ready and skewer the beef, pineapple and vegetables. Grill over a fire or a barbeque for 16 to 18 minutes.
Serves 8.

This article was written by Article Authors
for this Free Recipes site

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Fish is, as they say, good for you. It contains a wealth of ‘good’ fats and protein, not to mention vitamins. Most people, however, seem a little restricted in their choice of fish, sticking with trout and salmon mostly. So why not experiment a little with some of the other wonderful fish out there? like sea-bass, or example! Sea-bass is a light white fish with a very mild flavor, and this easy-to-make dish is perfect for a dinner party since the vegetables can be pre-prepared and then heated at the last moment. The ingredients you need are:-

2 Fillet Sea-bass
2 Peppers - Yellow & Red work for colour
Spring Onions x 4 cut into 2 pieces
Asparagus x8 tips
1 Large Courgette
Olive Oil
Balsamic Oil
Garlive clove - crushed
Butter 75g
Whole Lemon cut into quarters
Salt & Pepper

First you need to prepare your Pepper Butter with which you will fry the fish later.

Char-grill one half of a pepper (rub in a little oil oil). Once soft
and cooked leave to cool. Mix in with the lightly salted butter, grind in a
little pepper and squeeze one quarter of the lemon over it. Put the mixture into a large piece of clingfilm in the middle in a long sausauge shape. Roll the cling-film so you have the butter in the middle in a sausage shape but
covered over (this is a style preferred by www.HelensRecipes.com staff, by the way!). Put in the freezer - this will give you nice ‘circle’ shapes
for cooking and presentation

Now slice the peppers into 4 pieces and the half pepper into 2 pieces. Cut
your large courgette in half and then chop each half into 4 slices length ways so you get long slices rather than little round chunks. Rub all over with a little olive oil and chargrill. These should take around 25 minutes - take off the heat once cooked.

Meanwhile take an oven dish, add the asparagus and spring onions.
Cover with 6 tablespoons of oil, a few dashes of balsamic oil and the
crushed garlic clove (add 3 if you really like garlic!) This will need to
cook in the oven at 170 degrees for approx. 15-18mins until tender.

The sea-bass will take around 8-12 minutes to cook so halfway through cooking
the above put the fish into a hot pan then turn down the heat to medium.
Take the butter from the freezer and put two 1 cm circles on each fillet.

Build the dish!
Put 4 asparagus tips on the bottom with a drizzle of the olive, balsamic and
garlic oils. Now build up the layers of vegetables as follows:-
spring onions
red peppers
courgettes

On top of this veggie stack, place the seabass and add 1cm of the butter for presentation. The fish should still be warm and the butter should be melting

This dish can be served with any of the following:

Basil mash potato - see Helens Recipe for rustic mash and simply add butter and chopped basil with a little cream.

Pak/Bok Choy with soy sauce works well. Serve with a chilled white wine - a Sancerre works well with this!

About the Author

Helen Porter, cooks it up exclusively for www.helensrecipes.com

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Latest news from the strawberry jam front - the tide of strawberries is advancing, threatening to engulf me in a wave of strawberries waiting to be processed, taking up whole shelves of the fridge, lurking in corners just when I thought I’d done the last batch. Heaving a sigh of relief as the last pot is filled and sealed, I turn around only to find the kitchen table groaning under a fresh sea of newly picked strawberries waiting to be sorted.

There is no more room on the larder shelves for jam - what I’ve got there already will probably last us a decade at the current rate of consumption, I’ve used up all the jam jars and am down to oddly shaped mustard jars, coffee jars and outsized sauce jars and there are still a good few weeks of strawberry season to go.

I have to start selling the jam…………..memories of a film, where ex-city career woman, moves to country with baby in tow, starts making apple puree baby food and ends up with a full scale business employing half the village, flit through my head. Country baby was her label, with a cute picture of baby, designed to appeal to other city people looking for the good life. Mind you she was a PR person, so had a head start on promoting things and I’m not a business person at all, just someone with too much jam on their hands, larder shelves and everywhere else in the house.

So, I take a stall at the local market and arrive with a basket of jam, a few jars of marmalade for variety, a table and chair. I discover a few things - people smile when they see strawberry jam, people like strawberries, there is a high feel-good factor about them, they conjure up summer and celebration and treats. It’s not a hard product to sell, people are predisposed in its favour; the price just has to be not too scary. Some people are more attracted by the pretty fabric covers on the lids and choose one to match their kitchen d©cor…I’ll have to work on the pretty aspect. No I’m not about to become a strawberry jam millionaire, but I did sell ten jars.

After thinking I’d got the jam consistency sorted, producing reliably runny but not too runny jam, I suddenly turned out several batches that set completely - thick solid stand-up-your-spoon-in jam. Now I know it’s all about pectin and how much there is in the fruit, but why now? I did leave it soaking in the sugar longer because I didn’t get round to cooking it till the afternoon, but does that do anything to pectin levels?

Anyway, I now have two varieties of strawberry jam - thick and runny, both have a good flavour - and both sorts have their aficionados. But now the dilemma is, am I able to reproduce the thick jam to order or will it only happen by accident? We’re a long way from scientific laboratory controlled conditions here…. a wing and a prayer is more like it. So prayer it’ll have to be, if my market customers return demanding thick strawberry jam!

Copyright 2005 Kit Heathcock

Sometime flower photographer, keen observer of the resonances of life and fulltime mother. Born in the UK but now living on a farm in the southern hemisphere. Contributor to the creation and maintenance of A Flower Gallery one of the homes of chakra flower art.

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Often couples just cannot make a decision about what gifts to present to their guests and in this situation it always worth falling back on edible wedding favors. You can of course provide savory favors which can be novel but the vast majority will prefer something sweet. There is something quite special about a chocolate bar that has a wrapper designed to suit the special occasion. As there are so many types of candy bar it might be an idea to buy a selection so that guests can swap if they prefer something else. A particularly loving touch is for there to be a message from the couple on the candy wrapper in addition to the wedding details.

Just to complete the favor, why not have the picture of the bride and groom printed on the wrapper as well? Tins filled with candy are another option for brides and grooms who want to give out edible wedding favors. There is also typically the option of personalizing the tin by including the wedding date and the name of the bride and the groom. It is doubtful that the candy will remain uneaten before the end of the day but the tins are always useful afterwards; they are useful for all sorts of storage from holding small items to storing fishing flies. Candy will probably remain a favorite edible wedding favor for some time because it is so popular.

By using a large glass bowl in the center of every table, the bride and groom can fill them with their own choices of candy for everyone to share. An addition to this is to have special boxes made up for every guest with the details of the wedding and if you have decided on a theme of some kind then the box or container can match this. The bride and grooms guests can then use the containers to put in any candy they like to take away when they leave. If you really don’t like the idea of candy as an edible wedding favor, why not consider using cookies instead. You can select cookies which are rather plain in nature but place them in keepsake boxes with the bride and grooms’ names as well as the date of the wedding.

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Rusks in South Africa are part of the cultural identity - one of the things that exiles in a foreign land long for. Children are brought up on Rooibos tea (a herbal bush tea) and rusks. These aren’t the pallid soggy affairs that pass for rusks in the UK - Farleys rusks given to teething infants and guaranteed to coat your entire house with a paste of gooey gloop. South African rusks are of a texture somewhere between bread and cake, with extra bits of raisin or nuts, baked hard so that they must be dunked in tea or else gnawed slowly. They last a long time in an airtight tin, so are baked in big batches but even so they don’t last long in our house.

As an Englishwoman married to a South African living in London, I came across rusks on our visits to his family and was instantly converted. ‘Ouma’s Rusks’ are the famous ones that come in several varieties and we always came home with a few packs in our suitcase. On a longer visit in a cottage in Philadelphia, near Cape Town, I found a recipe to bake my own rusks, tried it and have been baking them every two weeks pretty much ever since.

When our son was a toddler waking at 5.30 every morning, the only thing that made the morning bearable was the thought of tea and rusks. Our son started off on them early and our sofa became a nest of cushions and crumbs. The first thing he ever helped bake was rusks and I always had my patience tried, as the mix became the scene of excavations with diggers or a castle with a moat. The girls also joined in when they were old enough, so for a time I had three children all wrestling to get their hands in the dough. Now the youngest is adept at making balls the right size and I have a band of useful helpers. So rusks have become part of our family culture too, my children may have missed out on the rooibos tea tradition - (I love it, they hate it) but at least they were brought up properly as regards rusks!

Several friends in London were smitten, asked for the recipe and started baking and it has since been dispersed as far afield as Pakistan and the USA.

The recipe:

South African Buttermilk Rusks

1.240kg / 2lb12oz flour (I use 1kg wholemeal and the rest white)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 teaspoons of salt
250g / 9oz butter
cup raisins (optional)
2 eggs
1 cups brown sugar
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup oil

(1 cup=250ml)
Preheat the oven to 190C/380F
Grease three loaf tins of base measurement 20cmx10cm / 8″x 4″ approx or any combination of deep baking dish that adds up to about the same.

In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar and salt. Cut the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour. Add the raisins if you are using them. You can experiment with various nuts and seeds as well, though the rusks are equally good plain.

In another bowl mix together the buttermilk, sugar, eggs and oil and beat until well combined. Stir liquid into dry ingredients and mix then knead to a firm dough.

Form the dough into balls about the size of a ping-pong ball and pack them tightly in one layer into the loaf tins. I usually get six rows of three into each of my tins. Bake for 45 minutes.

Turn out onto a rack and leave to cool for 30 minutes before breaking up into individual rusks along the joins of the balls. Dry in a low oven 100C/200F for 4-5 hours until the centre is completely dry. These can be kept for ages in an airtight container.

Warning: crumbs guaranteed on the sofa, in the bed, over the carpet and the car seats!

Copyright 2006 Kit Heathcock

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Pepper spray is non-toxic, non-inflammable, legal self-defense equipment. The active ingredient of which is the same pepper content that we get from hot cayenne peppers used for cooking.

Capsaicin, the active ingredient, is oil extracted from the tissue of the cayenne pepper, which is located just below the stem.

What are the effects of pepper spray contents?
The immediate effects of pepper spray are as follows:

* Temporary blindness
* Tearing and burning sensation in the eyes.
* Shortness of breath
* Choking and coughing
* Feeling of light-headedness
* Confusion and disorientation

Is it Fatal? Pepper spray was not designed to be fatal and there are no questionable contents that are to be found in pepper spray that may show evidences of becoming fatal. However, there are cases of deaths recorded that are associated with pepper sprays. This is primarily due to the allergic reaction, termed as anaphylaxis. Symptoms of anaphylaxis include fainting, shock and swelling. Asthmatics must also keep watch since they are likely to become infected with contact to serious dose of pepper sprays.

Is pepper spray training required? It is not a standard set for people using pepper spray to attend training regarding the use of the item. However, for the user’s safety and more effectivity of use, they are advised to enroll on such programs.

What is the strength of pepper sprays? The standard pepper spray strength is 15% active ingredients and 2 million HSU or Scoville Heat Units. The rating for HSU is much more essential than that of the rate for the active ingredient.

Is this the best non-lethal self-defense weapon? We cannot tell exactly if this is the best yet the truth is, it has produced more desirable results as compared with other tear gasses.

Is it safe to use? It is generally safe to use since it does not have long lasting effects and there is no known dosage that rise to the level of being fatal. The sprayed person will have to suffer around 20 minutes or more of excruciating eye pain and temporary blindness along with other things. Just enough to help you getaway from your attacker to call the police and escape.

What are restrictions for using pepper spray? For now, there are no established restrictions in using pepper sprays. However, offensive use is extremely prohibited.

What must be done when the spray affects you? The affected area must be immediately rinsed with cold water and baby shampoo. The clothes must be washed separately to avoid contact with other items.

Is it the best solution? In actuality, it is not but this is rather dependent on the case. If for example your assailant is loaded with lethal weapons, he may have already injured you even before you successfully take out your pepper spray. In this case, it is best to avoid using it or you may end up being sprayed with your own pepper spray. You may also use it but be assured that it ill not backfire at you and keep it away from your assailant’s reach. The wisest thing to do is to refrain from unnecessary risks as much as possible.

Children must be kept away from pepper spray since they are fond of playing with novelty items. Many will attempt spraying the item to the air or at any object, including live things and most end up spraying themselves.

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