Popular Romanian food is made of sheep and goat milk products, which are the basis of veritable crafts, especially in the mountain areas (Bran, Sibiu, Vaideieni, Vrancea, Piatra-Neamt etc )

Fermented ewe cheese

After curdling, the milk may be easily detached manually off the walls of the caldron and thoroughly crumbled in pea-size bits, for 10 minutes, in order to remove the whey, and then it is carefully stirred for another 5 minutes

The next step is to add 5 litres of whey, warmed up to 40-42 C, for every 100 litres of milk in order to keep a constant 37 C temperature Then the curd (the coagulated milk) is “gathered” carefully, for 10 minutes, with both hands in a big round conglomerate, under which a special bag is arranged The result of work is placed on a special pot called crinta, under a small weight

After 5 minutes, it is “broken” in egg-size pieces, and then the bag is tied and pressed for about 2 minutes Another crumbling in pea-size bits follows, and then the bag is tied, exerting a uniform and moderate pressure for about 2 hours by using a thicker board made of beech or oak, and eventually, if necessary, a stone of a suitable size may be placed on top of it

Regarding the clot, in the absence of the industrial solution (pepsin), the stomach of the 3-week-old sacrificed lambs is used, after adding milk and a lot of salt After approximately 2-3 weeks, it is sectioned and the content is dissolved manually in about 2 litres of hot water and then it is filtered

For the same purpose, the mucus of the pig stomach may be used, after being rubbed with a lot of salt, placed in a pot, covered with milk, and left for about two weeks in this condition, and then filtered and used

Another popular Romanian food is barrel cheese, truckle cheese and cheese covered in fir-tree bark After it has been pressed for 2 hours, the “green” or “sweet” ewe cheese is removed from the bag and it is placed for fermentation on a shelf in “ewe cheese room”, which is a dark and cool room (12-14 C during summertime)

After 10-12 hours, the ewe cheese is minced by means of a mincing machine or it is kneaded with a “raval” which is a piece of carved beech wood, 5-6 cm thick, 60-70 cm long and 18-20 cm width, transversally chopped at small distances The kneaded cheese is introduced by pressing in truckle, blister, barrel etc , after it has been previously shaped into well-kneaded fist-size balls, so that to completely remove the air from it After each 8-10 cm sheet, a layer of slightly salted slices of fermented ewe cheese is inserted

Soft cow cheese is another appreciated popular Romanian food

The butter milk, which remains after the preparation of the “sweet ewe cheese”, is boiled for about 1 hour at an 85-90 C temperature, and the precipitation of the rest of the protein takes place during this period of time

During boiling, the whey is continuously stirred with a wooden spoon otherwise it sticks to the bottom of the caldron at gets “smoked”

Such popular Romanian food is, first of all, healthy and quite low in calories; therefore it can be served without hesitation in diets or on any possible occasions

Romanian women are known to be amongst the most beautiful, stylish, well dressed, educated & family orientated women on the planet. If you are serious about finding a Romanian bride, you must read our hard hitting and honest reviews of the top Romanian dating web sites. Don’t get scammed. Visit us now.

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Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2: More Amazing Clones of Famous Dishes from America's Favorite Restaurant Chains

Maine lobster, also known as the American Lobster, is found in the waters between Eastern Canada and North Carolina, with Maine contributing to more than half of all lobsters caught in the United States Maine lobster is easily distinguished from the “spiny” lobster (commonly called rock lobster) caught along the southern Atlantic coast and the coast of California by its large heavy claws The spiny lobster has tiny claws and is usually marketed as uncooked frozen tails Because of its sweet, delicious flavor and tender texture Maine lobster is the world’s most prized catch

Live Maine lobster is available year-round, with the bulk of the catch harvested in the summer and fall In the winter months many lobstermen pull their traps to avoid damage and danger of Nor’easters and other storms The price of lobster, like most prices, is ruled by supply and demand, as well as, the weather Lobster prices usually rise at the start of Memorial Day and drop as the season ends with Labor Day weekend May and September are good times to buy hard-shell lobsters In June and July, when lobster molting is at its peak, the majority of lobsters sold locally are soft-shell

Lobsters grow by molting, or shedding their shells Just after they molt, they are soft and fragile until their new shell has hardened (It takes about 25 molts over 5-7 years for a lobster to grow to a minimum legal size, 1 pound ) Newly molted lobsters are called soft-shell or “new shell” lobsters It is important to be aware of the quality and price of soft-shell lobsters Soft-Shell lobsters have less meat in proportion to total body weight than hard-shell lobsters Hard-shell meat is firmer, while soft-shell meat is softer and tends to have more water Because soft-shell lobsters are not as strong as hard-shells, they do not ship well This is why soft-shell lobster is always less expensive Cracking a hard-shell Maine lobster takes some effort, but the results are more than worth it

Lobsters are caught in traps, marked by colorful buoys to identify the traps’ owners If you happen to be out on a boat and come across one, don’t even think about pulling it up to take a look There is no real authority specifically governing lobster traps, unless you count Smith & Wesson, and the notoriously short-tempered lobstermen, themselves

When the lobsters are taken from the trap, they are “banded” with strong rubber bands Sometimes you might see wooden plugs inserted into the base of the claw Do not remove the bands or plugs they are there for your safety!!!

The State of Maine has very strict laws governing lobstering Lobster traps may not be hauled at night and on Sundays during June through August in Maine waters (since 1967) In Maine it is illegal to keep lobsters under and over a certain size Lobstermen use a special gauge to accurately measure the length of the lobster’s carapace (body)–from the eye socket to the beginning of the tail to ensure legal compliance The legal minimum length is 3 1/4 inches Lobsters under this length are call “shorts” or snappers” and must be thrown back into the ocean Minimum sizes are enforced to make sure that lobsters are mature enough to breed at least once before they are harvested When a female egg-bearing lobster is found, it is required by Maine law that a v-shaped notch be placed in the right tail flipper before releasing the lobster, in order to protect her so that she may continue to reproduce

The maximum legal length of a lobster is 5 inches carapace-length; which are called “jumbos” The maximum size limit is regulated to protect the breeding stock A minimum size lobster will weigh around 1 pound, while a maximum size lobster will weigh between 3-4 pounds The most plentiful and most popular size of Maine Lobster is between 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 pounds each

Contrary to popular belief, live lobsters are not red in color, but are actually a dark blue-green color because of the many different color pigments When cooked, all of the pigments except for the red (astaxantbin) are hidden Besides the typical colored lobsters, there are also rare yellow, red, blue and white specimens About 1 in every 30 million lobsters is born with a blue shell Lobsters are usually active at night and eat fish, crabs, clams, mussels, sea urchins and sometimes-other lobsters!

You can tell if a lobster is a male or a female by looking at their first pair of swimmerets found on the under body of the lobster The swimmerets on the male are larger and bony; they are smaller and softer in the female

Maine lobster is not only great tasting, it’s healthy - that is, if you go easy on the butter It’s hard to believe, but Maine Lobster has less cholesterol, calories, and saturated fats than lean beef, skinless chicken and pork Lobster is a good source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids, which are proven to reduce hardening of the arteries and risk of heart disease Lobster is also high in amino acids, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, iron, vitamin A, and many of the B vitamins

Live lobster can be boiled, steamed, grilled, or baked The white meat of the Maine lobster is located in the tail, claws, and knuckles Meat can also be found in parts of the body and legs The red material in the tail section is the coral “roe” or the female eggs and is considered a delicacy The greenish material at the junction of the body and tail is “tomalley”, which is actually the liver, and has a very unique “peppery” taste used in many recipes

Don’t worry about cooking live lobsters Lobsters have a ganglionic nervous system (as opposed to a central nervous system), so they do not feel “pain” the same way that we do The supposed “screaming” in the pot is actually the sound of steam escaping from the lobster’s shell

Cooking a lobster longer than the recommended times usually makes the meat too tough When properly cooked, lobster meat is a creamy white, shells are bright red and the two front antennae pull out easily A 1-2 pound whole lobster serves one person A pound of meat can be removed from four to six lobsters weighing 1 25 pounds (typical market size) Approximately two cups of lobster meat equals one pound For more Maine lobster and seafood cooking instructions be sure to visit our seafood cooking and handling guide

Though Maine lobster is best enjoyed “in the rough” (cooked whole in the shell), it lends itself to a variety of recipes and styles Celebrate, anytime of year, anywhere in the country, with the finest live Maine Lobster from LobsterAnywhere com

Happy Cracking!

To catch the full story, please visit http://www.lobsteranywhere.com/maine-lobster/category/lobster101 for everything including lobster dinner ideas!

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Cooking

Some call it a food group It just means that much and tastes that good

While it’s not the healthiest food in some ways there are many health benefits to eating chocolate too

Dark chocolate is of course the best, as it has the most cocoa and therefore the flavonoids, which provide the benefits The flavonoids have antioxidant properties, which have the potential to help prevent cancer, heart disease, and stroke

Natural cocoa powders are the best, and when you’re shopping for chocolate you can get the best benefit from chocolates with the highest cocoa content In addition, milk chocolate has more fat and calories due to the milk content than darker chocolates do

The benefits aren’t extreme and unfortunately not worth overindulging in chocolate They do give a delightful bonus to one of life’s little pleasures The occasional dark chocolate is about as good for you as the occasional glass of red wine, which also contains flavonoids

A new potential benefit has been discovered by Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland They’ve found that chocolate can help with diarrhea by limiting the production of fluids The flavonoids appear to bind to a protein called CFTR, and then inhibit them This discovery is promising for its potential to be developed as a cheap treatment with few or no side effects Only time will tell on that possibility, of course

Some worry about the stearic acid found in chocolate Stearic acid is a saturated fat, but some say it’s a neutral so far as risk to the heart while others say it has been shown to be a problem As with many health topics it can be very hard to decide what to believe

You can call chocolate addictive but it isn’t really, or at least there’s no evidence that it is It’s just a delight to eat It contains a variety of chemicals that can improve your mood but in very small quantities

The absolute best way to indulge in chocolate is to use cocoa powder in recipes that have other healthy ingredients You can substitute cocoa powder for baking chocolate in some recipes to decrease the fat content To make many baked goods even better for you, use just egg whites rather than the entire egg and replace butter and oil with unsweetened applesauce

To finish this article off, I’d like to include a favorite recipe for chocolate meringue There’s a lot of sugar in this recipe, so it’s not 100% healthy but they’re quite decadent without a lot of calories

2 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 250 degrees Beat the egg whites in a large bowl at high speed until peaks start to foam Slowly add sugar as you continue to beat Keeping beating until stiff peaks form

Mix in vanilla and cocoa powder while beating at a lower speed Mix chocolate chips in by hand

Cover a baking sheet in foil or parchment paper Drop spoonfuls of meringue about an inch apart

Bake for one hour Turn off oven and leave meringues in the cooling oven for at least two more hours to allow the meringues to completely dry Store in an airtight container

Stephanie Foster runs http://www.gimmechocolate.com/ and is maybe just a little obsessed with chocolate. Visit her site to find more chocolaterecipes.

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The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition

Popular Romanian food is made of sheep and goat milk products, which are the basis of veritable crafts, especially in the mountain areas (Bran, Sibiu, Vaideieni, Vrancea, Piatra-Neamt etc )

Fermented ewe cheese

After curdling, the milk may be easily detached manually off the walls of the caldron and thoroughly crumbled in pea-size bits, for 10 minutes, in order to remove the whey, and then it is carefully stirred for another 5 minutes

The next step is to add 5 litres of whey, warmed up to 40-42 C, for every 100 litres of milk in order to keep a constant 37 C temperature Then the curd (the coagulated milk) is “gathered” carefully, for 10 minutes, with both hands in a big round conglomerate, under which a special bag is arranged The result of work is placed on a special pot called crinta, under a small weight

After 5 minutes, it is “broken” in egg-size pieces, and then the bag is tied and pressed for about 2 minutes Another crumbling in pea-size bits follows, and then the bag is tied, exerting a uniform and moderate pressure for about 2 hours by using a thicker board made of beech or oak, and eventually, if necessary, a stone of a suitable size may be placed on top of it

Regarding the clot, in the absence of the industrial solution (pepsin), the stomach of the 3-week-old sacrificed lambs is used, after adding milk and a lot of salt After approximately 2-3 weeks, it is sectioned and the content is dissolved manually in about 2 litres of hot water and then it is filtered

For the same purpose, the mucus of the pig stomach may be used, after being rubbed with a lot of salt, placed in a pot, covered with milk, and left for about two weeks in this condition, and then filtered and used

Another popular Romanian food is barrel cheese, truckle cheese and cheese covered in fir-tree bark After it has been pressed for 2 hours, the “green” or “sweet” ewe cheese is removed from the bag and it is placed for fermentation on a shelf in “ewe cheese room”, which is a dark and cool room (12-14 C during summertime)

After 10-12 hours, the ewe cheese is minced by means of a mincing machine or it is kneaded with a “raval” which is a piece of carved beech wood, 5-6 cm thick, 60-70 cm long and 18-20 cm width, transversally chopped at small distances The kneaded cheese is introduced by pressing in truckle, blister, barrel etc , after it has been previously shaped into well-kneaded fist-size balls, so that to completely remove the air from it After each 8-10 cm sheet, a layer of slightly salted slices of fermented ewe cheese is inserted

Soft cow cheese is another appreciated popular Romanian food

The butter milk, which remains after the preparation of the “sweet ewe cheese”, is boiled for about 1 hour at an 85-90 C temperature, and the precipitation of the rest of the protein takes place during this period of time

During boiling, the whey is continuously stirred with a wooden spoon otherwise it sticks to the bottom of the caldron at gets “smoked”

Such popular Romanian food is, first of all, healthy and quite low in calories; therefore it can be served without hesitation in diets or on any possible occasions

Romanian women are known to be amongst the most beautiful, stylish, well dressed, educated & family orientated women on the planet. If you are serious about finding a Romanian bride, you must read our hard hitting and honest reviews of the top Romanian dating web sites. Don’t get scammed. Visit us now.

Syndication Source: Article Mind
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Living Cookbook 2008

Some call it a food group It just means that much and tastes that good

While it’s not the healthiest food in some ways there are many health benefits to eating chocolate too

Dark chocolate is of course the best, as it has the most cocoa and therefore the flavonoids, which provide the benefits The flavonoids have antioxidant properties, which have the potential to help prevent cancer, heart disease, and stroke

Natural cocoa powders are the best, and when you’re shopping for chocolate you can get the best benefit from chocolates with the highest cocoa content In addition, milk chocolate has more fat and calories due to the milk content than darker chocolates do

The benefits aren’t extreme and unfortunately not worth overindulging in chocolate They do give a delightful bonus to one of life’s little pleasures The occasional dark chocolate is about as good for you as the occasional glass of red wine, which also contains flavonoids

A new potential benefit has been discovered by Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland They’ve found that chocolate can help with diarrhea by limiting the production of fluids The flavonoids appear to bind to a protein called CFTR, and then inhibit them This discovery is promising for its potential to be developed as a cheap treatment with few or no side effects Only time will tell on that possibility, of course

Some worry about the stearic acid found in chocolate Stearic acid is a saturated fat, but some say it’s a neutral so far as risk to the heart while others say it has been shown to be a problem As with many health topics it can be very hard to decide what to believe

You can call chocolate addictive but it isn’t really, or at least there’s no evidence that it is It’s just a delight to eat It contains a variety of chemicals that can improve your mood but in very small quantities

The absolute best way to indulge in chocolate is to use cocoa powder in recipes that have other healthy ingredients You can substitute cocoa powder for baking chocolate in some recipes to decrease the fat content To make many baked goods even better for you, use just egg whites rather than the entire egg and replace butter and oil with unsweetened applesauce

To finish this article off, I’d like to include a favorite recipe for chocolate meringue There’s a lot of sugar in this recipe, so it’s not 100% healthy but they’re quite decadent without a lot of calories

2 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 250 degrees Beat the egg whites in a large bowl at high speed until peaks start to foam Slowly add sugar as you continue to beat Keeping beating until stiff peaks form

Mix in vanilla and cocoa powder while beating at a lower speed Mix chocolate chips in by hand

Cover a baking sheet in foil or parchment paper Drop spoonfuls of meringue about an inch apart

Bake for one hour Turn off oven and leave meringues in the cooling oven for at least two more hours to allow the meringues to completely dry Store in an airtight container

Stephanie Foster runs http://www.gimmechocolate.com/ and is maybe just a little obsessed with chocolate. Visit her site to find more chocolaterecipes.

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Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes and Home Made Candy Recipes

If you’ve been wondering how to make raw flax seed crackers or just looking for a good basic easy, healthy raw flax seed cracker recipe then I’ll make it easy for you As a nurse, amateur chef and raw foodist - vegan I’ve been making raw food recipes for a decade and have made many different types of flax seed cracker recipes I’m, going to show you the simplest and fastest way to make flax seed crackers

There are many different types of raw food flax seed cracker recipes but starting with something simple and then adding spices or ingredients can make it much more flavorful

Flax seed crackers are dehydrated crackers Usually a dehydrator is needed, although you can try to make them in an oven and keep it under 120 degrees - if it has a fan in back However that can take quite a few hours and would be a major drain on your electric bill And I don’t recommend it - it may be too hot and damage the enzymes that dehydrating at a low temperature is supposed to preserve

Dehydrators use very little energy If you’re eating raw foods now and don’t have a dehydrator you definitely should get one I find it an indispensable piece of equipment for raw fooders It will give you much more in the way to choose from in terms of the number of raw food recipes you can prepare

I make many different raw recipes in the dehydrator - for example, cookies, other types of raw crackers, raw pizza, raw crepes, mushroom appetizers, appetizers, raw onion bread and much more Invest in a dehydrator if you can Get the big square one with the fan in the back, because those are the best and will not heat the food The 9-tray Excalibur is the one I use

Okay for the simple, easy, basic raw flax seed cracker recipe see below However it is bland and I would suggest my follow-up variations for the best and most flavorful crackers

How To Make Flax Seed Crackers

Ingredients: flax seeds and pure unfiltered water

2 cup flax seeds soaked for 5- 8 hours or overnight - not ground up or you can use 2 cups of flax seeds unsoaked ground in a food processor

2 tsp sun dried sea salt

2 1/2 - 3 cups or more of pure filtered water

Mix together in mixing bowl and add more water if necessary It should be very moist Don’t worry - it does not have to be perfect They always turn out Spread onto dehydrator trays about 1/4 inch thick

Use a pizza cutter to cut into squares Dehydrate at about 95 degrees for 12-24 hours or until they look dried and crispy About half way through the process, re-score with the pizza cutter and place another tray on top and flip over and continue dehydrating

Now this is a very basic flax seed cracker recipe But you’ll want to add spices or additional ingredients to make them flavorful Otherwise they will be bland

Optional: 3 teaspoons of Italian seasoning for a more pizza-like cracker or add 3 T caraway seeds for a caraway seed cracker or add 4 dates for a sweeter cracker or add 1 T coriander seeds or add 2 cups of unsoaked sunflower seeds that have been ground up fine in a food processor or any combination of any of these You can also add 5 stalks of celery or the pulp from juicing carrots instead of some of the water as long as your final mixture is a little moist

Now you know how to make raw flax seed crackers Follow these simple directions and make sure to add the variations for the best flax seed crackers There are many other raw food diet recipes you can make with or without a dehydrator And even more variations of crackers

For raw food recipes, raw food diets, losing weight with raw foods, curing breast cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, sinus, digestive and sleeping issues, acid reflux, headaches, allergies, etc. see a nurse/raw food expert’s: http://www.RecipesRaw.com

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Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2: More Amazing Clones of Famous Dishes from America's Favorite Restaurant Chains