1. Seafood Watch

Want to know which are the best or worst choices you can ever make when it comes to seafood? Get this app; it also helps you locate or recommend “ocean-friendly” seafood by location. You can share your thoughts, food pics and opinions with other users. This app has geolocation social gaming features, similar to Foursquare

2. Foodspotting

This app helps you locate the best restaurants based on your location. The app allows users to share opinions and pictures of food, check in with restaurants and win badges and points. This app has geolocation social gaming features, similar to Foursquare.

3. Zagat’s App

Zagat’s app uses augmented reality features to view ratings of nearby restaurants. What this does is you focus your iPhone on a restaurant and the restaurant’s data’s appears superimposed over your camera’s live image.

4. Social Grapes

Make lists of your favorite wines and share them with your friends. View their wine lists and compare your tastes and recommendations when it comes to wine. Plus, you can get to know where to buy great wines at good prices and how to store wine and so on.

5. Urbanspoon App

Use this app to check out local restaurant reviews; just specify the location, food type and the price you’re willing to pay. Shake the phone to refresh data (iPhone feature, real cute) and get the latest updated info.

6. James Martin’s Food Simplicity App

This app provides you a series of video walkthroughs which demonstrate various ways to cook the same meal. You can decide on the simplest or the most complex way to cook a dish depending on your timelines and patience level. You will also benefit from quite a few recipes as well.

7. Good Food Healthy App

This app provides you with over 150 recipes, covering breakfast, lunch, starters, and dinner courses and so on. It’s exactly what you need when you’re trying to put together an intricate multi-course meal. Recipes are neatly categorized based on ingredients, quantity and calorie count.

8. Fast Food Calorie Counter

If you are particular about your caloric intake and obsess about how many calories any food item consists, this app is for you. It gives you the exact nutritional and calorific value of any fast food meal.

9. Veg Out App

Use this app to search for the nearest vegetarian, vegetarian-friendly or fully vegan eateries where you are. This app uses Google Maps, which means you will get the best veg places for any location.

10. Chinese Food In Minutes

This app gives you a great training course in Chinese cooking from Ching-He Haung, the Chinese food master. Haung provides videos demonstrating step-by-step instructions to teach you ways to make tasty, healthy Chinese recipes.

11. Dinner Spinner

This free app comes to you from AllRecipes.com; it has thousands of recipes including desserts. Anytime you’re stuck for ideas for dinner, all you do is check for specific recipes or meals on this app. Best of all, you can specify how much time you’re willing to spend, and the app will give you the recipes, the ingredients and the time to prepare.

12. Epicurious Recipes and Shopping List

Here’s an app that not only stocks thousands of recipes (try 30,000), but also provides a detailed shopping list of ingredients for each recipe! For the not-so-avid cook, this app is a dream-come-true. Just take your iPhone shopping with you and pick up all the ingredients as listed and cook the recipe as instructed.

13. Open Table

If you live in the US, UK or Canada, you know what it’s like to get a table at a restaurant. Over 17,000 US, UK and Canadian restaurants have registered on this app. Use this app to look up restaurants based on nearness, location, specific city, and cuisine or price range. When you zone in on the place you want, just reserve your table via the app.

14. Fooducate App

For the health nut and the organic food freak, it doesn’t get better than this. Grab any food item off the shelf and scan its barcode through this app. Voila! You’ll immediately know how much added sugar, additional sodium and monounsaturated oils are used! The app contains over 200,000 bar codes so far.

15. Jamie’s Recipes

Jamie is a charismatic celebrity chef whose non-stop imagination helps him create many ways to cook the same meal. This app gives you the dish summary, the recipe, ingredients list and detailed cooking steps. With 100s of easy to cook and innovative recipes, you’ll stop ordering takeout.

This article is written by Ross Cowan. Ross is a foodaholic and fitness freak. For earning money she helps online businesses in improving ecommerce conversion rate and designing landing page templates that can be used for high conversion rate.

1. Dry baking mixes

Do you have an awesome cookie or scone recipe that everyone loves? Buy empty glass jars and layer the dry ingredients in it. Close it off and tie a ribbon with the recipe and instructions in a little card. Not only are you giving your loved ones an occasion to taste your amazing baking on their own, but also a reason to treat you as well! And with the right mix of colors, the filled jar just looks amazing too!

2. Home tea recipes

Tea is a warm, comforting beverage that brings ideas of a fire, a book and a blanket. Offer the gift of comfort with homemade tea mixes. Buy loose tea leaves and mix in flowers, fruit zest and spices for a unique tea. You can look up several recipes online; an easy favorite is the homemade chai, which requires black tea and a blend of spices. Put everything in a mug or a jar and attach the brewing instructions for a unique tea lovers’ gift!

3. Recipe book

Self-publishing is all the rage these days, but you don’t need to have bestselling aspirations to make your own recipe book and give it to your friends and family. Collect or write down all your usual and favorite recipes and make a nice book out of them—a lot of Internet companies will do the layout and the printing for you. No one will ever have a reason to complain that they wish they knew your secret sauce recipe again!

4. Fresh herbs

Fresh herb plants can easily be found in any season, even winter. Buy a few small herb plants and put them together in a big basket with a few recipes and ideas for using them. Nobody understands the difference between fresh and dried herbs until they’ve tried it for themselves; if you give them an occasion to use the fresh stuff, they’ll never go back to dry, guaranteed!

5. Gift baskets

Making themed gift baskets is a great idea to mix around homemade and more traditional items. Along with food, you can add books, utensils and other items to themes like “movie night”, “Italian dinner” or “cookie basket”. Gift baskets are a great way to give the impression of a big gift by combining a lot of small items together.

As you can see, Christmas hampers and other food-related gifts are a simple but always pleasant way to surprise your loved ones during the gift-giving season. Make Christmas more delicious by offering one (or many) of these amazing food gifts! Of course, always consider allergies and dietary requirements when choosing those gifts.

Share Skills and Recipes

No matter how great a cook you are, there are endless types and styles of cooking out there, with each one tastier than the last. One of the biggest benefits to being part of a community kitchen is that everyone comes with their own particular skills and specialty, so you are guaranteed to all be learning from each other. Everyone has at least one special dish up their sleeve, so sharing these gems will increase everyone’s bank of dishes many times over. If you know someone who has done any hospitality training in Australia, you could even have them come and give a short one off lesson to help build everyone’s skill sets.

Save Money

There is no better way to cut your food costs than by buying in bulk, so your community kitchen will provide a great opportunity to buy in large quantities and have everyone saving on their food bills. Buying as a group will also give you the chance to get smaller amounts of goods you are less familiar with, so you can try new recipes without having to shell out large amounts of cash.

Meet Your Neighbors

Even in the cities, people live quite isolated lives these days, with very few clear opportunities to get to know your neighbors. A community kitchen will provide an awesome excuse for you to be getting together with others in your community on a regular basis, allowing you to not only cook but also socialize.

Family Friendly

Community kitchens are great ways to get you and your kids out of the house and doing something productive, with your regular cooking time a great way for your kids to play with other kids their age. All you will need is a few toys, some school supplies and an adult on watch, and all of your kids will be having a great time playing while you get to relax and cook with the grown ups.

Make Cooking Fun

If you aren’t someone who loves to cook, having a local community kitchen just might change all that. Cooking with other people can be one of the most enjoyable ways to socialize; you may even discover that you do like cooking after all. Rather than have everyone slaving away in their respective kitchens, get together and cook and make it fun!

Starting a community kitchen in your area is one of the best ways to make your community a healthier and happier place. So make a point of getting to know your neighbors and eating better, you’ll benefit in more ways than one.

Have you ever wondered what’s the story behind Panna Cotta? Have you tried to find the recipe to do it yourself at home? If so, then the following text is going to be useful.

Panna Cotta in English means “cooked cream”. It has been acclaimed the worldwide icon of Italian pasticceria as it’s so delicious and has probably the simplest recipe of all: it’s made by the simmering of milk, sugar and the fresh cream with a vanilla pod, then set with a leaf of gelatin.

We don’t know much about the origins of Panna Cotta. Officially, it has been placed among the Piedmont region’s traditional products. The success of Panna Cotta derives perhaps from the ease of preparation and the opportunity to use imagination while doing it: there exist a lot of variations of the original recipe.

However if you would like to prepare Panna Cotta in a traditional way, follow the recipe below:

Ingredients

Fresh cream 800 gr

Milk 200 gr

Gelatin 12 gr

Sugar 190 gr

Cold water (for gelatin)

1 pod of vanilla

Submerge the gelatin in a bowl of cold water. Then put the cream, milk, sugar and vanilla in a sauce pan. Bring it to 92˚C, stirring the ingredients with a whisk.

Remove the sauce pan from the heat at add the dried and well squeezed gelatin. Mix well to melt the gelatine. Finally, pour the Panna Cotta into the moulds and chill in the fridge for at least four hours. Enjoy!

1. Foods That Contain Beta-Cryptoxanthin

If you like apricots, oranges, tangerines, nectarines, peaches, papaya, watermelon and plums, there’s good news for you. These fruits contain beta-cryptoxanthin, which protects you from developing painful inflammatory joint conditions. If you are already suffering chronic joint pain due to arthritis, eating these fruits will ease joint movement. The University of Manchester analyzed the diets of 25,000 people and discovered that beta-cryptoxanthin in the diet makes a huge difference in reducing joint inflammation.

2. Foods That Contain Resveratrol

Another miracle chemical that alleviates joint difficulties is resveratrol. Have your daily glass of wine, because both red and green grapes contain this chemical, along with nuts and mulberries. What resveratrol does is to control the action of the cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme which causes inflammation. Aspirin does the same thing but the difference is that the resveratrol in aspirin blocks not just the pain-causing COX but also COX-1 that actually helps heal your stomach lining.

3. Foods That Contain Omega-3 Fatty Acids

The Omega-3 fatty acids contained in fish oil are known to have a beneficial effect on inflammation, as was found when 250 neck and back pain patients were studied by the University of Pittsburgh. If fish is not your thing, grab walnuts, flaxseed, linseed oil and other sources. However, if you can eat salmon, mackerel and tuna, you will benefit from the long-string sequences of omega-3 that they contain.

4. Foods That Contain Omega-9 Fatty Acids

Omega-9, just like Omega-3 fatty acids, blocks cell inflammation, bringing relief to pain sufferers. Get your daily dose of omega-9 fatty acids via avocados, olive oil, almonds, pecans, cashews, peanuts, pistachio nuts, macadamia nuts and sesame oil. If you consume omega-3 and omega-9 together, you will double the benefit. A note about omega-6 here – even though our bodies omega-6 as well, they happen to be pro-inflammatory. If you want to control pain, increase omegas 3 and 6 but reduce 9.

5. Foods That Contain Anti-Oxidants

There’s a long list of foods that are abundant in anti-oxidizing properties. Add these to your daily diet. The antioxidant glutathione is the one you want for pain relief and preventing from developing arthritis. Vitamins C and E are also good to have as they keep your joints supple. For Glutathione, eat broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, cabbage, avocados, tomatoes, oranges, grapefruit, watermelon and peaches. Eat plenty of berries, tomatoes and citrus fruit for vitamins C and E.

6. Foods That Contain Tryptophan

The chemical tryptophan is known to reduce the pain sensitivity in people. So if you know your worst pain is about to hit in an hour’s time, take some soy milk, tofu, seafood, beans, rice, whole grain bread, lentils and hummus. These foods contain sufficient tryptophan to keep you sated and help you perceive the pain a little less.

7. Foods That Contain Flavonoids

Flavonoids are chemicals that give fruits and vegetables their distinctive colors. Flavonoids are considered a key factor in the fight to prevent disease. Flavonoids help slow down the ageing process; they contribute to keeping the body young and supple, including skin, bones and joints. Eat plenty of high-colored foods like purple cabbage, broccoli, apples, onions, grapes and so on.

Some Tips On How To Eat These Foods To Manage Your Pain

Eat oily fish like salmon at least twice a week, and reduce consumption of chicken and red meat. In other words, you’ll be cutting back on omega-6s and taking in some omega-3 instead.

Use olive oil for all your cooking needs – it’s loaded with antioxidants and omega-3 fats.

Give your salads a crisp crunch using all kinds of nuts – Brazil nuts, pecans, peanuts, walnuts and almonds.

Slice avocado and use it to make sandwiches. Throw away the cheese.

Alex has written this article for Self Hypnosis website where you can easily download subliminal messages, binaural beats recordings, law of attraction and relaxation Cds and lot more from world’s renowned hypnotists.

1. It’s All In The Family: Morocco

In Morocco, whole families sit together for their main meals. Meals consist of a tagine, or a stew with vegetables and meat served with homemade flat bread or khus-khus. The meal is served on a huge platter, with the tagine bowl in the middle of it, surrounded by the khus-khus or bread. Everyone in the family then digs in using their right hands. You might think that people can just eat however they wish. However, Moroccan families have a strict protocol. Each person eats only from the area immediately in front of him or her, and is never allowed to transgress into the neighbor’s area of the platter.

2. Artistically Prepared And ELEGANTLY Eaten: Japan

Japanese food is prepared artistically and presented ceremoniously, with many bows. In traditional regions, the man of the family is served first, after which the rest of the family can eat. Families kneel on cushions placed on the floor, and eat dishes off of a low table. Chopsticks are used to eat noodles and the solid parts of a soup. However, spoons are not used; soup bowls are drained by lifting them to one’s mouth, just like a cup. Many intricate table manners are followed, and there are special procedures for how a person should eat rice, sushi, and sashimi.

3. Fingers Are Good Enough: India

In India, all food items are eaten using the fingers of the right hand. It is considered extreme bad manners to eat with one’s left hand, even if one is left handed. Indian food is comprised of rice or flat breads eaten with a number of dry curry and gravy dishes. Food is served from bowls and platters on to individual plates. Touching another person’s plate while eating is considered an insult. Water should be drunk without slurping, and preferably by pouring the water directly into the mouth from an inch or so above the mouth. Never plunge your hand into the serving dish or platter, as this is considered highly offensive. Don’t start eating till the eldest person in the group has begun. Remain seated till the eldest person leaves first.

4. It’s All About Sharing: China

In China, people share the dishes that are placed around the table. Meals usually comprise of a variety of dishes served in small quantities. Chinese meals begin with cold salads with nuts, followed by hot vegetarian or meat dishes, which is followed by soup. Rice, noodles or dumplings will follow the soup. If you want to have your starchy dishes with vegetables and meat, you must indicate it early on in the meal. You have to eat what’s placed on your plate, or cover it up so the host won’t be offended. Chinese eating habits involve several taboos, such as don’t stick your chopsticks straight in a rice bowl, don’t place the teapot spout facing someone and so on.

5. Leisurely Gourmet Delights: Italy

Lunch and dinner start with the antipasto, or appetizer, which comprises of pieces of flat bread served with various sauces, vegetables and meat. This is followed by the primo piatto which serves starchy food like soup, rice, pasta and so on. The primo piatto is followed by a meat or fish dish, the second piatto. Dessert is often only fresh fruit, with pastries relegated to tea time. Eating is a leisurely activity and Italians don’t like being rushed while eating. There are no definite taboos or rules when it comes to eating, so you can relax.

6. Food Or Art? Thailand

Thai food has a high aesthetic appeal, with great importance given to the colors, cut and presentation of vegetable and meat dishes. Meals consist of a soup, a salad, fried dish of meat or fish, desserts and optionally, a curry dish. Meals comprise a mix of spicy, sweet and sour and mild dishes to round out one’s palate. The Thai love to eat and snack a lot between meals. If you’re eating at a restaurant and the check comes to you, pay up. Usually the person perceived to be the richest in the group is offered the check and it’s an honor. Let the senior ladies in the group order, and don’t start eating till you’re invited to dig in. Serve yourself small portions so there’s enough to go around. There are some rules: don’t put the fork directly into your mouth, don’t leave your chopsticks in the bowl as it symbolizes death and so on.

Kathy works for gift ideas and experiences company that offers a large range of unique gifts for men and women.

Decide on a Style

The first thing you need to do before you get going on the recipes is decide what style of food you want to display as well as who you want your target audience to be. Most people will buy a recipe book if they are looking for something specific such as vegetarian food, desserts, quick meals, family meals and that sort of thing. Decide who it is you are making the recipes for and then you can start putting it all together.

The Recipes

Once you have decided on which recipes you want to put in, you will need to make sure they are doable for the average human. The best way to ensure your recipes are easy to follow is to get your friends and family members to cook with your recipes and give you feedback. This is also a great editing tool as they will probably be able to point out typos and any other discrepancies as well as give comments on the food itself. This is a really important step as the quality of your recipes could make or break the popularity of your book, so no half measures!

Find a Publisher

This is a pretty obvious step, but can be quite tricky so you might want to start looking at your options ahead of time. Now that your recipes have all been tried and tested, you will be feeling confident about the final editing process.

Take Good Photos

People generally like to have pictures of the food to go along with the recipes. Something about knowing what the dish should look like in the end makes it easier to understand the cooking process better. Plus when people are deciding what they want to make, it’s usually the picture that draws their attention. To make your food look good, you will want to invest in a good camera and get a few household items to put in with the food to make it look homey. Canon cameras are really good for these types of shots because you want a really detailed, clear picture. Items from the home such as candles, flowers as well as nice dishes and cutlery will make the picture look complete.

Throw a Party

Once your recipe book is finished and sent off to the publishers, make sure you throw a party and cook for your friends and family to let them know that you appreciate their help with the whole process. They will also play a large role in getting word out about your recipe book, so make sure you treat them right!

So, here’s some quick and easy dinner dishes you can throw together, in between organizing the removalists or updating your home insurance policy, when unexpected guests arrive on your doorstep. Each recipe serves 6.

Chicken with ricotta, basil and wilted tomatoes

Shopping list

300g fresh ricotta

3 tablespoons of fresh shredded basil

3 tablespoons of finely grated parmesan cheese

6 chicken breast fillets, with the skin on

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 punnets of cherry tomatoes, halved

sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

extra basil to serve

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 160°C.

2. Combine ricotta, shredded basil and parmesan into a bowl.

3. Carefully loosen the skin from each chicken breast and spoon in the ricotta, basil and parmesan mixture.

4. Season the chicken well with salt and pepper.

5. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and add the oil. Once hot add the chicken breasts and cook for 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Repeat this process for all 6 breasts.

6. Place all of the chicken breasts in a large ovenproof dish and add the tomatoes before putting it in the oven for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

7. Divide between plates and top with extra basil.

8. Serve with crusty bread and a side of green beans.

BBQ salmon with fennel, orange and chickpeas

Shopping list

3 oranges, peeled

1 fennel bulb, trimmed and sliced finely

600g of canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1/3 cup of fresh continental parsley leaves

2 tablespoons of fresh dill, chopped

2 large skinless salmon fillets, deboned

100g baby rocket leaves

Lemon wedges to serve

Method

1. Preheat a BBQ flat plate or char grill on high.

2. Holding the orange over a bowl, to catch the juice, use a sharp knife to remove the segments. Leave the segments with the juice in the bowl. Use your hands to squeeze some of the juice from each segment. Repeat process with all oranges.

3. Add the fennel, chickpeas, onion, parsley and dill to the bowl. Season with pepper and toss to combine.

4. Cut each salmon fillet lengthways into 8 pieces. Spray lightly with olive oil and season with pepper. Cook the salmon on the BBQ for 1 minute each side or until cooked.

5. Flake the salmon into bite-sized pieces and add it to the orange salad mixture and toss to combine.

6. Divide amongst serving dishes and serve with lemon wedges.

Voila – two easy meals that are sure to impress anyone that turns up on your doorstep.

Cooking more at home can be a challenge, especially when your schedule is tight. But finding dishes that are quick, easy and affordable to make will give your family a break from fast food.

Slow cooker meals

If you have a busy family, a slow cooker is the best kitchen tool you can buy. Aside from the thousands of recipes available online, making a meal in a slow cooker is as simple as tossing stuff into a pot, turning it on and coming back to a fully-cooked, delicious meal 6-8 hours later. Assembling your dinner the night before and storing it in the fridge till morning will make it easy to make a delicious dinner while you’re at work, taking online university classes or shuttling your kids back and forth to school and other activities.

While dishes like pot roast are typical slow cooker fare, feel free to experiment; slow cookers aren’t just for dinners, and there are recipes for desserts and even breakfast: this recipe for oatmeal is as simple as it is tasty. For dinner, you can get creative with your slow cooker with dishes like a slow cooker pizza and chicken soup.

Salads

Salads are more than a healthy side dish: great dinner salads can be made from an endless selection of ingredients. Everything from pasta to steak can be tossed into salads for a full meal. And keeping ingredients for various salads allows each member of the family to make their own salads just the way they like them—and for kids, making salads for dinner can teach them about making healthy food choices.

You don’t need a recipe to make a fabulous salad, but there are recipes that might change your perception of what a salad can be. This chopped Greek salad with chicken is loaded with Mediterranean flavors like olives, crisp cucumbers and olive oil. If you’re in the mood for Tex-Mex, try Rachael Ray’s Mexican salad: with the addition of sliced chicken or steak, it could be made into a meal for the whole family. Of course, you can always just toss a bunch of garden vegetables together with an oil and vinegar dressing if you want something simple and full of flavor.

Batch cooking

Quick and easy cooking is great for families on the go, but nothing can replace good home-cooked comfort food. If you can, carve a few hours out of your weekend to devote to batch cooking. Batch cooking involves cooking several meals at once and storing them for later. Depending on how much time you have, you can fill your fridge and freezer with enough meals to last an entire month. Sites like Once a Month Mom and Once a Week Cooking offer menu planning for folks who want to cook several meals at once.

Quick and easy is the name of the game when it comes to providing healthy, great-tasting food for your family. Finding healthy, easy-to-make alternatives to fast food will save you time, money and a few pounds if you keep at it. And with techniques like batch cooking, you can ensure that you’ll never have to wonder what to make for dinner: there will be a good selection of premade meals for you to choose from. No matter which cooking methods you choose, be sure to pick high-quality fruits, vegetables and meats for your meals. Bon appetite!

But frying potatoes isn’t the only way to cook them. Try out a couple of these healthier ways to reintroduce the spud back into your diet.

1. Baking – One of the most common ways to cook a potato, baking a potato requires no butter or oil to cook. The skin is kept on the potato and then wrapped in aluminum foil and then placed in the oven until fully cooked. The skin contains added fiber as well as additional nutrients such as Vitamin C. Adding just a small amount of salt and pepper for taste can help boost the flavor without having to add butter, but a small amount of sour cream or butter and chives can also be added to help liven things up.

2. Mashing – After boiling potatoes until they are soft, you can mash them to add to any meal as a great compliment to meat or vegetables. Keeping the skin on when mashing them keeps all of those great nutrients, although they will make the final result dark in appearance as well as adding a little more texture than most people are used to when eating mashed potatoes. Instead of adding large amounts of butter to add taste, a little skim milk can be added to give the potatoes a smoother, richer texture and boost flavor. Freshly grated garlic is also a great addition for mashed potatoes as garlic is used to help fight cancer and fight heart disease.

3. Broiling – Dicing potatoes (with skin on) with carrots and onions and broiling (or baking) them in the oven together makes a wonderful, healthy dish. Once everything is cut into small pieces and added to a baking dish, a little extra virgin olive oil (which contains healthy fats and Omega-3 fatty acids) should be added on top of the vegetables and then covered in aluminum foil and broiled. The vegetables not only become soft and tender, they are also full of flavor as each ingredient enhances the other.

4. Grilling – Idaho potatoes work well for grilling, and a great alternative to French fries is to grill wedges on your charcoal or gas grill. For a charcoal grill, make sure that the coals are banked, to create a direct and indirect heating surface for the wedges so that they cook thoroughly on the inside before burning on the outside. For a gas grill, heat one side to a medium-high and the other side to a medium-low. Potatoes can also be diced and mixed with spices or other ingredients like peppers and onions and wrapped in aluminum foil to let cook and simmer to be kept moist and let flavors soak into the potatoes.

5. Sautéed – A great alternative to processed potatoes for breakfast (hash browns), sautéing your own potatoes with diced red and green peppers, onions, and garlic, is a quick and healthy way to start off your morning. Lightly coat your pan with extra virgin olive oil and dice all of the ingredients into bite-sized pieces and cook until tender.

Jeff Orloff writes about health topics for the Term-Life Insurance blog where you can find more information about getting the best insurance coverage for you and your family.