Desserts
Just a little something "to fill in the corners." Even in this age of healthy eating, luscious desserts are enjoying a renaissance. A bit of indulgence at the end of a hard day can go a long way toward making a happy life. Once in a while, listen to the kids and have dessert before dinner.
Beef dishes
From stew to steak, beef has been at the center of the American plate for more than 150 years. And with good reason. High in protein and iron, beef is versatile and nutritious. One word about food safety and beef, ground beef is particularly susceptible to bacteria and should be cooked to an internal temperature of 150 degrees. Larger cuts, like steak or roasts, can safely be served at 130 degrees.
Pork dishes
If you're getting ho-hum looks from the kids at the dinner table, it might be time for a change from the routine of beef, chicken, beef, chicken. It might be a cliché, but pork really is the other white meat. Low in fat but high in flavor, pork combines the best qualities of both beef and chicken with a versatility all its own. CountryCook would like to thank the National Pork Producers Council for their contribution of some of these recipes.
Chicken dishes
The chicken was first domesticated about 2,000 years ago. That isn't long compared to 6,000 years for cattle and hogs. During those times, eggs where considered more valuable than the chicken. In the past 40 years, chicken has gone from a special-occasion dish to being served almost every day. Since the 1960s, the consumption of chicken has increased from 28 pounds per person annually to an estimated 73 pounds in 1998. Nutritionally, chicken has more protein, less fat and has about 30 percent fewer calories than beef or pork.
Seafood dishes
The first person to eat an oyster must have been very brave (or very hungry) but was very well rewarded for the effort. Well-prepared seafood has an aura of sophistication and elegance and it is worthwhile to handle fresh fish and seafood gently and not to overcook it. When buying fresh fish give it a sniff -- if it smells fishy pass it by. Fish should not have a strong odor.
Summer favorites
In this author's dictionary, summer and grilling are synonymous. Grilling has come a long way from burgers and brats in recent years . Today’s backyard cuisine includes main courses, side dishes, soups and even desserts. There are so many claims for being the only authentic barbecue style, just ignore them all and grill what you like. So here are a few tasty tidbits to get your summer off to a sizzling start.
Light and lively
Low in fat or calories should not mean low in flavor. By using fresh herbs and spices abundantly, simple substitutions, and bold creativity, healthy food can nourish your soul as well as your body.
Salads
On the side or as the main dish, salads offer an opportunity to combine colors, textures and flavors in combinations limited only by your own adventurousness. A simple tossed salad can come to life with one or two simple additions such as balsamic vinegar or roasted red peppers. For a more formal presentation, an architecturally complex composed salad can be very impressive and easier than it looks.
Breads
Bread is a staple food, and the bread recipes you'll find here are sure to tantalize your taste buds.
Sauces and dressings
French cuisine has long relied on complex methods and a lot of work in making sauces. Today this is not the case, as time and money are at a premium cooking needs to be quick and easy -- this includes sauces. A well-chosen sauce can transform a ho-hum meal into something quite memorable. By making your own stock or salad dressing you can control the amount of salt and fat in your diet and be able to realize just the flavor you want.
Tomato recipes
Summer brings luscious tomatoes for savory sauces and other delicious tomato dishes. And, preparing meals with tomatoes doesn't necessarily demand much time or trouble. Tomatoes can add nuances of flavor to any meal -- sweet, tangy, light or intense. Complement your next meal with tomatoes. Check out these great recipes.
Thanksgiving and Halloween
As pumpkins ripen in the field and leaves turn crimson and gold, we get ready to celebrate the bounty and good fortune of the past year by bringing home our scattered families and friends. The traditions we may have tried to ignore when young are now our most cherished memories and Mom's apple pie is the only real apple pie. From early October through the first snows of November, apples, pumpkins, yams, cranberries and other late-season foods come into season and become the center of our gatherings. At any family event or community festival food plays an integral part.

Thanksgiving is the best example of this. Remember though, Thanksgiving should be enjoyable for the cook as well as the guests, so do as much preparation as possible the day before. Only the turkey should get hot under the collar.

For kids, Halloween means candy, candy, candy but for parents it means work, work and well, candy. Hosting a Halloween party for kids or adults can be rewarding as well as stress-free. Serving fun, easy treats to your guests does the trick.

At CountryCook we hope to whet your appetite and fire your imagination with a few choice recipes and links to other Web sites that celebrate America's abundance and sense of fun.
Soups and Appetizers
A job well begun is half done. First impressions matter as much with food as in life. A well-prepared and attractively served first course sets the tone for the rest of the meal and raises your guests' regard for your culinary skills. Canapés or hors d’oeuvres, both thought of as finger food, passed on silver trays make a sophisticated statement for a buffet or cocktail party. For more informal dinners and family get-togethers, appetizers can be as simple as a small serving of pasta, a salad with home-made dressing or chips-n-dip.

Soup can start a meal or be the meal. Certainly creating soup from scratch is more time-consuming than zipping open a can and plopping it on the table, but the rewards for time spent are infinitely greater, especially if you get your children involved. Imagine having an actual conversation with your child as the aroma of simmering stock fills the kitchen with memories that will last a lifetime. To make great soup you must start with great ingredients. Some canned low-sodium stocks are okay, but there is no comparison to fresh homemade broth and vegetables that are still identifiable. So, get yourself a six- or eight-quart stock pot with a thick, heavy base and start having fun.
Halloween Capital of the World Bake-off Recipes

In this section, you'll find recipes from the Halloween Capital of the World Pumpkin Recipe Bake-Off held for Anoka, Minnesota's annual celebration. This year's contest took place at the Farmstead Presbyterian Homes. Contestants baked everything from pumpkin cake to pumpkin bars, from pumpkin raisin scones to rolled pumpkin cookies and from pumpkin bread to pumpkin pie. A panel of judges, including the town mayor, was on hand to do the taste testing. Entries were judged on three things: taste, creativity and appearance.

Before the bake-off winners were announced, one entrant offered CountryCook some advice to pass along. Harriet Holseth, who entered her pumpkin bars in the contest, said the secret to delectable pumpkin bars and pies is fresh pumpkin. "When I make pumpkin anything, I use fresh pumpkin. I like the light texture of it," she said.

The Mayor of Anoka said determining a winner was tough. "This was hard," he said, "but it isn't all about winning. This bake-off is a great way to come together as a community in honor of the Anoka Halloween celebration."

The following winners were announced after the judges convened for about 15 minutes. Sue Lindquist took first prize for the pumpkin cake pictured above and came away with a $100 prize. Jean Stokes took second place for a pumpkin pie decorated with Halloween cutouts and Pat Kokette took third place for her pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting.

In this section of CountryCook, you'll find recipes from many of the entrants in the Halloween Bake-off. As a CountryCook editor who had the chance to taste all of the pumpkin recipes, I can assure you all of them are delicious! Enjoy!
Vegetable and other Side dishes
While the center of the plate tends to get all the attention, side dishes - unfairly labeled - are as important to the enjoyment of a meal as any main course. Choosing an accompaniment to an entree is an art in itself. Taste, texture, the balance of spices, the colors in a particular dish can enhance or detract from a plate of food and must be judged with care. The pairing of wild rice pilaf with grilled chicken is a nice combination; with a hot dog it just doesn’t work as well. That said, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to your own kitchen other than: have fun and try a seemingly odd combination of dishes once in a while. You never know when you might hit upon a winner. Maybe wild rice does complement a hot dog.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Christmas is filled with tradition, and we like having our seasonal favorites close at hand year after year. Yet with the family gathered, it becomes clear how much has changed since the last yuletide. The kids are a little taller, grandpa’s hair is a little whiter, and they keep making the newspaper print just a little smaller.

It is through our familiar holiday traditions that the, at times, overwhelming changes seem less startling. The warmth of the fireside or the fresh scent of a Christmas tree decorated with strings of popcorn and tinsel bring back memories of childhood and snowball fights past.

This is a time to enjoy the simple act of giving and to remember that the purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the gift of life.

Even though your Christmas menu has probably been planned, there is always room for one more dish. Try one of our favorites or look back through your family history and choose a dish ‘from the old country’ to add to tradition.

With doomsayers especially busy this year, it is good to keep family and friends at the center of our celebrations. As time runs out in this momentous year, many people are ignoring the hype, planning to stay close to home to ring in the new century. An intimate gathering of eight or ten instead of a house full of strangers can help you start the new year relaxed rather than frazzled. Whether you intend to celebrate with a sit-down dinner or to enjoy a casual buffet, be sure to serve plenty of little snacks throughout the evening.
Turkey Day tips: fresh, frozen or fried
Carefully planning your Thanksgiving feast will keep your guests from crying fowl, according to a poultry specialist with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service.

Dr. Sarah Birkholt said, "Careful planning is the key to a successful Thanksgiving dinner. Take the time to compose your menu and budget your time," she said. "We have many choices when deciding what type of turkey to buy, fresh or frozen, whole or parts, smoked or baked. Your selection depends on personal preference, price and convenience."

Frozen or previously frozen turkeys are often self-basting. This means they have had broth or a phosphate and oil solution added to enhance flavor and juiciness. Frozen turkeys often sell for less than 20 cents per pound or may be given away by the grocery store as loss leaders. This practice entices consumers to do all of their holiday food shopping at that store.

Most fresh turkeys are not self-basting. Therefore, they require occasional basting during roasting. Although fresh turkeys usually cost more per pound, Birkholt said, many people prefer them for flavor and convenience.

New twist on an old classic. If you're really pressed for time and want to try a new twist on an old classic, order Cajun-fried turkey from Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits.

Cajun-fried turkeys are first injected with a flavorful marinade to keep the bird juicy during the cooking process. Then, a blend of Cajun spices is massaged over the entire turkey.

Deep-frying the turkey seals in all the flavors and juices, yet renders away most of the fat, providing a healthy contrast to heavily buttered oven-roasted turkeys.

But don't try preparing a bird this way yourself. It can only be done at home if you have a 10- or 15-gallon, gas-fired deep-fryer. It may keep the bird juicier and is very fast but it is also very messy and dangerous with excited kids running around and 10 gallons of boiling oil.
Flash-freezing extends shelf life

Many of today's top chefs in France continue to employ the sous videcooking method. "I predict that we're going to see an overwhelmingly increased usage of sous vide cooking in the United States in the next five years," Charlie Trotter, one of the Midwest's most eminent chefs, noted December 14, 1999, at a celebrity tasting event in Chicago.

Flash-frozen foods have a much longer shelf life and will not suffer freezer burn, according to Horizon Foods, a company that delivers sous vide foods to homes in areas where it has distributors.

Rapid freezing also has nutritional benefits because it maintains the quality of the product without artificial preservatives. And, thanks to flash-freezing, the availability of fish and seafoods is never a problem.

For more information on sous videand recipes, visit the Horizon Foods Web site. Also check out Chef Charlie Trotter's home on the Web.
Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo is not the official independence day of Mexico, but it is celebrated with as much patriotism and sense of independence as the 4 th. of July is in the United States. The colorful parades, costumes and of course foods commemorate the victory of a heavily outnumbered Mexican army over the invading French in 1862. We at CountryCook invite you to enjoy this celebration of freedom with a few hot recipes and some links to other sites with information about Cinco de Mayo. Viva jalapeno!!
Bed and breakfast recipes
Here are some bed and breakfast favorites from across the country! Test them out and see if they might be your family's next favorite!
Tasty tuna dishes
Tuna is delicious, healthy, convenient and a great change of pace for your family. Check out these tasty recipes.
Gifts from your kitchen!
It seems like it never ends. You always need a few more small gifts; teacher, mailman, neighbor, a Sunday school teacher or maybe the hairdresser. These are gifts that are easy to make and better yet, easy on the pocket book. The best part is that they are greatly appreciated by the recipient, and not just another what-not to gather dust or another candle to add to the garage sale box. Try one of these suggestions.
Wild Game delicacies
Wild game can add a wonderful variety to your family's cuisine.
Tasty turkey recipes
Turkey can be delicious and healthful. Try some of these great turkey taste treats.
The sport of cooking
Having friends over to watch the Super Bowl or some other sporting event. Try serving dishes that are easy to prepare, but more memorable than finger food.
Pizza
Although Italian in origin, pizza has come almost as American as apple pie.
Cooking in an RV
Too often traveling becomes an excuse to forget about good eating habits. According to Jo Ann Prophet, following the guidelines for proper nutrition is much easier when you travel in a recreation vehicle (RV).

"People traveling in RVs can enjoy foods that are nutritious, economical and fresh," says Prophet, a registered dietician and instructor in the nutrition department at the University of California, Davis. "RVs allow travelers to conveniently prepare healthy foods you can't always get in restaurants. With an RV, you're in control of foods that can be high in fat, calories and sodium."

Prophet offers these tips for healthy eating on the road:

Think fruits and vegetables. They are low-fat powerhouses of vitamins and minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals.

Use snacks to add fiber. Make in-between nibbles count – whole-grain crackers, dried fruits and nuts make healthy choices. Be careful of high-fat dips and salad dressings; use yogurt as a base for both. Try flavored and balsamic vinegars.

Drink plenty of fluids. Many people forget to drink their daily quota of water when they're on the road, but water is always accessible in an RV. Watch the sugar content of punch drinks and sodas.

Cook healthy. RVs allow you to bake, broil, steam or boil. Avoid adding extra fat when cooking. Cook vegetables for as short a time as possible. Add extra fruits to recipes for both flavor and nutrition.

Take advantage of fresh local fare. A major part of the fun and adventure of RV travel is trying farmers' markets to pick your own produce and regional specialties.
Quick cooking on the stovetop
Pressure cooking is a fast, supercharged way to cook on the stovetop. So you can prepare your favorite dishes quickly without extended stovetop or oven use. Pressure cookers can easily pay for themselves in energy savings with regular use.
Quick cooking tips
Here are some little things to make food preparation faster and more fun.
What's cooking in America 2001
Conducted every five years since 1980, and analyzing more than 1,700 households nationwide, the most recently released Kraft Kitchens Study shows these cooking and baking trends shaping America's kitchens.
Baby artichokes big on flavor
Baby artichokes are not immature, just smaller because they grow lower on the big, fern-like artichoke plant, and in the shade of the leaves. Babies range in size from walnut to jumbo egg and, because they are almost completely edible, are very easy to prepare. These traditional Italian spring vegetables are great to saute in olive oil and garlic and serve in salads, stews or on pizza.

Beverages
How to serve and enjoy the best beverage with every meal.
Dairy delights
Confections concocted from milk, cheese, yogurt and eggs.
Valentine's Day
Whip up a romantic meal for just two.
Chef Emeril's Easter, Passover recipes
With Easter and Passover around the corner kitchens will be busy around the world. Chef Emeril Lagasse offers his version of holiday recipes for sugarcane baked ham with spiced apples and pears, Passover brisket and Portuguese five-egg Easter bread.
Lamb recipes for Easter
The American Lamb Council features many recipes for new and exciting lamb dishes, including several special leg of lamb recipes for Easter.
Practical pork recipes
New some new practical recipes to spice up your pork chops? The National Pork Board offer these recipes for Pork. The Other White Meat.
Holiday tips from Fine Cooking
Even the busiest host or the most amateur cook can make the holidays a spectacular culinary success by transforming ordinary dishes into special treats, according to Martha Holmberg, editor of Fine Cooking magazine.
Baking made easy
Solutions to common baking problems from Domino Sugar.
Wine buying and serving tips
"The holidays are fun - but people put a lot of pressure on themselves when it comes to shopping for and serving exactly the right wine to pair with the meal. The biggest thing for people to remember is that wine and food are meant to be enjoyed together and shouldn't become a source of stress, particularly during the holidays," says Andrea Immer, master sommelier and author of "Andrea Immer's Wine Buying Guide for Everyone."
Energy-saving ideas
Today's new kitchen appliances use nearly 50 percent less energy than those built just a decade ago. Still, when holiday time rolls around, your energy bills can rise considerably. But it's not difficult to keep added holiday energy costs to a minimum.
Colorful Christmas creations
T'is the season for festive desserts and snacks! Whether searching for ways to make this year’s dessert buffet shine or make holiday gifts that come from the heart, these colorful treats from the McCormick spice company are simple and fun to make.
Homemade Pizza
It is easier than you think to make your own pizza. Give it a try. You will be glad you did and your family will love to help . . . make it and eat it!