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Although this salad is delicious as a side dish, it’s so hearty that it can be the centerpiece of the meal. This organic salad is high-protein, so you get plenty of mileage with this meal; you will not be hungry in just two hours!

It’s terrific served with hearty whole grain bread on the side, preferably organic and baked by a local baker, to sop up the vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

2 15 oz. cans organic chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
2 15 oz. cans organic black-eyed peas
2 15 oz. cans organic artichoke hearts
4 large organic tomatoes
large organic onion
6 large fresh organic garlic cloves
cup organic olive oil
cup organic balsamic vinegar
A few pinches of dried organic parsley
Fresh ground salt and pepper to taste

Drain chickpeas and black-eyed peas, and dump them into a large bowl. Chop artichoke hearts (into eighths if they’re whole, or into quarters if they’re already halved). Chop tomatoes and dice onion; dump artichokes, tomatoes and onion into bowl. Crush garlic gloves with garlic press and add to the luscious pile of goodies.

Whip olive oil and balsamic vinegar together in a smaller bowl, then pour over the pile. Your mouth should be watering now. Add a few generous pinches of parsley, then salt and pepper to taste. Stir all the ingredients thoroughly with a large spoon to distribute them evenly and coat them with vinaigrette.

You can increase the ratio of balsamic vinegar to olive oil if you like the vinaigrette to taste more tangy! And you can increase the overall amount of oil and vinegar if you want the salad to be more juicy.

You can also experiment with which type of vinegar flavor you like best. Red wine or raspberry balsamic vinegar taste great in this dish.

As for the fresh ground salt and pepper, you can either add them to the oil and vinegar mixture, just sprinkle them onto the ingredients before stirring, or both.

Adding fresh chopped basil–or any fresh organic herb you think would harmonize well with this dish–is also an option. You can also substitute organic escallions (green onions) for the diced onions, which also adds more color.

The trick to delicious recipes is to cook by your own taste, not necessarily by following the recipe verbatim. Besides, how fun would cooking be if you couldn’t sample the dishes while you’re creating them?

This dish, which serves 6 or more, also works great for summer pitch-ins, especially if you’re vegan. You can’t always count on non-dairy, high-protein dishes at such gatherings, but you can definitely depend on this hearty summer salad!

Virginia Louise runs an organic food site that offers free information to visitors interested in discovering the advantages of organic food

Visit the web site to get another seven free recipes as mouthwatering as this one.

If you only had $300 a month to spend on groceries for a family
of four, could you do it? What sort of food would make the list
and what would stay tauntingly on the store’s shelves?

Whatever your reason for having a tight budget, the truth is
that going to the grocery store without a plan is a BIG budget
breaker. And sadly all that cash ends up vanishing into our
stomachs and then…let’s stop there.

Could you save $25 a month on groceries? How about $50 or $100?
Possibly you could cut your bill by almost 50% if you consider
some of the following suggestions:

First you must divide the budget you have into three categories;
weekly, bi-weekly and monthly. Once you have the totals fixed,
try to find a way to make it work. If you budgeted too tight,
only then consider how much more you really need to spend.

Second, identify your WEEKLY needs; milk, bread, fruits. These
will be your saving graces when the troops are hungry. You can
load up every week and always have a healthy snack available.
Think about $15/week.

Third, identify your BI-WEEKLY needs; eggs, cheese, vegetables,
meat and cheese for sandwiches etc. These items have a slightly
longer shelf life but you will watch how much you use when you
know there’s still four days until your next purchase. Try $20
every two weeks.

Fourth, get the remainder of your groceries in one place. Use
cash to pay (to avoid temptation of over spending) and work out
your shopping list ahead of time. You only need to do this once
as many of the items (Cereal, meat etc.) will need to be
repurchased each time. Other items (sugar, flour etc.) may be
substituted every other month. In this example you have $200
left.

Fifth, have a schedule of meals that you can rotate. Cheap,
healthy meals like stir fry can be inexpensive as they use less
meat than full pieces of chicken or beef for dinner. Plan to
have a meat meal offset by a simpler dish like pasta every other
night. This way your family will not go through
‘feast-and-famine’ when they eat like kings the first week and
are eating canned chili every night for the last week.

Always determine your meals based on what you really plan to
cook. If you have easy weeknight staples, try to find the
cheapest method of preparing them, or make do with less pre-
packaged affair on other nights when you have more time. Using
items like frozen vegetables can make eating cheap also healthy
and convenient.

Clearly the $300 suggestion will depend on your family, the age
of your children and how much your budget really allows.
Whatever your budget, taking the time to draw up a plan and
think about your choices will guarantee that you keep more cash
in your wallet for other important things.

Your tongue is covered with over 10,000 individual taste buds.
These receptors enable us to detect the presence of certain
compounds in our food and drink. Yet for all the adjectives we
have to describe flavors, there are only 4 basic flavors the
tongue can detect, with a fifth having been described in Asian
cultures and only recently being accepted in the west. The four
we commonly think of are sweet, sour, salt, and bitter. The
fifth flavor perception has been named by the Japanese as umami,
or the savory sensation, associated with protein or meats.

So if the tongue has such a limited role to play in how we
perceive wine, then where does all that wonderful experience
come from when we sip and enjoy a glass? The answer is in front
of your nose; or rather it is your nose. The sense of smell is
more important to taste than the tongue itself. So what better
place to start tasting wine than with the aroma? Well, actually
before you ever taste or smell the wine your eyes will see it,
so let us start with a look at the wine.

Color and Clarity

The first thing you should do is hold your g
lass at half an arms length, and against a while or light
colored background. Look at how the light comes through the
wine. A good quality wine should be bright, with no cloudy haze
or particles floating around. If it is a sparkling wine the
bubbles should be fine and leave a delicate mist bursting at the
surface. If the wine appears brownish, like is has been tinted,
it may very well be oxidized. The color of white wine is often
very telling of the flavors they contain. Lighter, pale straw
colored wines are likely to taste lighter and crisp with very
fresh citrus or herbal notes, whereas darker whites will have
more bold oak or vanilla components. The color of red wines will
be very indicative of the grapes used, ranging from pale
burgundy to a purple crimson.

Aroma

Gently swirl the wine in the glass for a moment, and before you
even get the glass to your nose you will start to smell it. The
first aromas to get to your nose will be the highly volatile
esters responsible for the fruity smells, as well as alcohol.
Now bring the glass up to your nose, but don’t put your nose in
the glass, after all you are going to drink from it in a moment.
Give a nice gentle but lingering sniff. This will be the most
complex part of the wine as there are literally hundreds of
components contributing to the wines aroma. If there is any sign
of spoilage, stop now before you ruin your nose and taste buds
for the night. There are many words used to describe wine aroma,
from fresh fruit, dried fruit, herbal, grassy, oaky, vanilla,
citrus, floral, to less desirable like chemical, sulphur, or
madeirised (oxidized). Wines that have been aging for a while
may even develop some aromas that are earthy and almost like
truffles. Don’t be too concerned with the exact description,
just use other flavors you are already familiar with and can
remember for future comparisons.

Tasting

Finally take a sip of wine into your mouth but do not swallow.
Don’t worry, we wont’ ask you to spit it out, after all the
vintner made the wine to be consumed. But do hold the wine in
your mouth a moment. Now you will quickly perceive acidity
(sour), on the sides of your tongue, and sweet on the tip. And
soon after if there are any tannins on the wine they will make
themselves known as the sensation of drying, or almost
“sticking” to your tongue. Breathe out into your nose a little
and you unleash the full potential of the wine. By now the wine
has change dramatically as you progress from the fore palate
through the mid to the end palate. Finally swallow and any
bitterness will be perceived on the back of your tongue, and you
can really enjoy the lingering affects.

As you proceed through these steps you may be amazed at how
different the perception of the wine is. Many wines excel at a
single point or two along this tasting path, but only those
wines that are exceptional improve with each phase of tasting
and culminate with a lingering end palate that leaves you
begging for another sip. While these are just the basics, it can
many years and literally hundreds of wine samples to become
expertly tuned into tasting wine.

With an espresso machine in your kitchen at home, you can make your own latte’s to enjoy for yourself- and to impress your dinner guests! Some people look at the price of a home espresso machine and change their minds, but if consider what you typically pay when you buy a latte at your local coffee shop, whether it is a mom & pop shop or a chain (like Dunkin’ Donuts), you’re spending anywhere from $2 to $4 for a latte! Your espresso machine will more than pay for itself in a short time of making your lattes from home. Having your own espresso machine means having the ability to make latte’s for much less than you spend on them when you go out. Plus you can enjoy them anytime- not just when you’re on the road. Also, lattes are a wonderful after dinner complement- particularly when you have guests over!

Making a latte is all a part of the fun of having an espresso machine. While some people like to drink espresso shots right out of the machine, most people would prefer to make a latte or cappuccino to sit and enjoy with a good book, or good friends and conversation!

The espresso machine will grind your espresso beans fresh for every cup, giving you the fresh taste latte lovers have come to recognize as an integral part of the latte. Depending on your particular brand of espresso machine, you’ll probably dispense about 7 grams of espresso into the handle. Once you’ve extracted the espresso shot into the provided espresso shot pot (usually stainless steel, with a pouring spout), you can start steaming your milk!

The basic recipe is 1 to 2 ounces of espresso to 8 fluid ounces of milk. Put your milk into the frothing jug, and slide the entire container over the steam arm nozzle. Make sure you keep the nozzle as close to the bottom of the container as possible to avoid making a lot of foam out of your milk. Use a thermometer so you know when the milk reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now you are ready to pour your steamed milk into the serving cup. A glass latte cup will look the best, and really impress your friends! Pour the steamed milk into the glass, using a spoon to hold back most of the foam that forms on the top of the milk. Once you’ve filled your cup with the milk, allow some of the foam to lie on the top for a “professional coffee shop latte” look.

Your final step to preparing a latte at home is to take your espresso shot and pour it slowly down the inside of the latte serving glass. Some of the espresso will mix with the milk at the bottom of the glass and some will layer itself in between the milk and foam. You’ll have cloudy areas and several different shades of “latte brown”, making for a wonderful presentation that rivals that of the best coffee house. Only you won’t be paying $4 a cup, and you can make it and drink it in your pajamas if you want to!

If you really want to make the presentation impressive, place your guests’ lattes on a cute little serving tray, with a decorative plate of fancy cookies. Biscotti’s are typically served with lattes, but you can be creative and serve anything you like. Maybe you could make some tiramisu using your espresso to make it from scratch for dessert, and enjoy slices of tiramisu with your homemade lattes! Your guests will want to come for dinner all the time once they experience your after dinner lattes.

This article has been provided courtesy of Kitchen Junkie. Kitchen Junkie offers great kitchen articles available for reprint and other tools to help you get the best bargain on kitchen gadgets and more.

Water plays a major role in keeping your body healthy, and water coolers can give you safe and clean drinking water. A water cooler is a device that cools and dispenses water whenever you need it. Water coolers have become very popular these days, and you can find them in homes, offices, airports, malls, and many other places. They are also commonly called dispensers.

Wall mounted water cooler:

The wall mounted water cooler is the most common water cooler. Here, the cooler is connected to the water supply and electricity is used to run the refrigeration to cool the incoming water. The unused water can be disposed of in the building waste system. This kind of cooler usually has a container in the machine which holds the chilled water so that when you want some water, you just have to press the button which is on a spring loaded valve, and when it is released the water gets turned off. You do not have to wait for the water to come as it is already stored.

Bottled water coolers:

In the older version the water is used directly from the municipal water supply, but these days more emphasis is given on filtered water. The newer version has a free-standing design where bottled water is used. Here the bottle is placed spout down into the dispensing machine. These machines are of different sizes and vary from table units. The larger version can hold a bottle of up to 5 gallons. Depending on where it is needed, you can choose the most suitable size. For office use the larger one would be more suitable. The refrigeration function chills the water, but these units do not have a place to dump excess water, and only a small basin is there to catch minor spills.

There are coolers which have a second dispenser to deliver heated water that can be used for tea, hot chocolate, instant coffee, etc. They can be quite handy at a lot of places, be it at home or office. Water coolers are quite popular especially with the kids, as they simply love to have an icy cold drink. You also do not need to keep water in the refrigerator as you can always have chilled water whenever you want it. It works great in an outside-enclosed area, like a shop or shed as anybody can just help themselves to a refreshing drink. Large water bottles are readily available and are more economical than buying other drinks, as you just have to refill them when needed. Some bottled water companies even offer filtered drinking water coolers to their clients.

Advantages of filtered drinking water coolers over bottled water coolers:

The good thing about having filtered water coolers in offices is that companies can cut their overhead costs without giving up the quality of the amenities provided to their employees. They can cut the hassles of having individual bottles, and eliminate their administrative and drinking water costs by just investing on water coolers which can dramatically improve the taste and quality of their office drinking water. This is also more convenient as you can avoid the hassles of having bottled water deliveries once or twice per month and the possibility of running out of water. With filtered water coolers you can always rely on having a supply of water available.

So free yourself from the risk of any water infection with clean drinking water that is free of bacteria and algae, and get yourself a home water cooler! Enjoy a chilled glass of water on a hot day and a refreshing cup of tea in the morning to wake you up and prepare you for the day ahead.

Paul MacIver writes articles on a variety of topics. Visit Water Coolers for futher info on Water Coolers, Water Dispensers, and Bottled Water Coolers.