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to Die For Recipes Article:

Easy Summer Salads, Lighter Foods For A Brighter Summer

Easy summer salads are the way to go, now that the winter blues are fading into the distance and salad days are here. The best salads are light, bright and easy to prepare.

Who wants to spend hours slaving away in the kitchen when friends are round for lunch, the garden is in bloom and the wine is chilled and ready to pour. But before you start to cook you can save a lot of energy by buying the right ingredients. That way you don't need the heavy bottled sauces and dressings to make a great flavor. After all you don't want to take a beautiful crisp summer salad and soak it in a mixture of fat, sugar, salt and chemicals do you?

If you start off with great food and don't do too much to them you don't need all these strong tastes. All you need is to combine it well so that the flavors work together, have a nice crunchy texture and add a little light dressing to set it all off. Let the taste buds do the rest Freshness is, as in all cooking, the way to a good salad.

Don't take what the supermarkets give you. Although it's easier to pick up the ready packed tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, bell peppers etc. To make sure you get the best, take a minute or two and pick over the vegetables, choose what is firm ripe and ready to use. The same of course applies with meat and fish. There is a reason why supermarkets prepackage, and it's not always convenience. So choose well, cook quickly and simply and your friends won't have finished the wine by the time you get there! Enjoy a little bit of summer now with this easy poached chicken salad.

Easy poached chicken salad

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts (skinless)

1 finely sliced red onion

1 whole half onion

4 good ripe tomatoes sliced thickly

250 grams/4ozs salad leaves mixed

4ozs raisins soaked in hot water for ten minutes

1 half lemon

2 fresh or dry bay leaves

1 teaspoon peppercorns black

1 small French, stick loaf or similar sliced at an angle into 1/2 inch slices

For the dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil

1clove garlic crushed

1/2 dessert spoon Dijon or other mild mustard

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

To make the dressing:

Whisk the vinegar and mustard together with the garlic, slowly add the olive oil while whisking and season with salt and pepper to taste.

To make the salad:

Bring a pan of water to the boil with the bay leaves, 1/2 white onion, lemon and peppercorns.

Carefully add the chicken and simmer gently until cooked, if you are unsure it is worth investing a few dollars in a meat thermometer. The temperature should be at least 75 celcius/167 Fahrenheit, put the sliced bread on a baking tray and drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt. Bake in a medium oven until crisp but soft in the middle.

Mix the leaves together with the onions and raisins. Turn in the salad dressing and put into 4 good-sized bowls. Place slices of tomato and bread alternatly around the edge. Slice the warm chicken at an angle and put attractively on top of the salad. Sit back, enjoy and get someone else to do the washing up.

Nearlyhealthy.com is a new quality easy recipe, cookery tips and information site, for great tasting food that is also easy to cook. Cooking should be a joy not a chore.Using the best ingrdients and keeping it simple means your food tastes good with the minimum of fuss. Cookery book reviews, we choose the best in current and classic recipe books and food travel writers. Also product and good food suppliers.

Need to know the best food processer we take the time to choose so you don't have to. Need to know where to find the best organic pork? We bring you the best suppliers and information.

We have started small but will add more and more content over the coming weeks so do keep checking back.We look forward to seeing you and listening to your comments and feedback.

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Sausage seasoning varies with the region and the country. Since sausages are preferred by some spicy or simply garlicky, you can imagine how various the sausage herb and spices blends can be. Every individual likes a certain flavor added to the meat and the flavor also varies with the style of cooking the meat. Generally speaking sausages are fired or grilled so perhaps people would be more inclined to use sausage seasoning that somewhat resembles that of barbecued meat. And it so happens that if you want to purchase a certain kind of sausage seasoning and you are in a foreign country, you might not find it on the store shelves. Instead you will find other brands that will reflect the local tendencies in cuisine. Thus the sausage seasoning is not of only one kind and another tendency nowadays is to combine whatever you are into in terms of flavors borrowing ideas from other cultures and cuisines all over the world.

Recipe for a delicious oyster stuffing, perfect for that Thanksgiving turkey, or maybe the Christmas goose. My friend said a couple of years ago "that's the best oyster dressing I have ever eaten. I hope you like it too! -- Frank

Sauces are unusual components of meals. Often they do not merit more than an afterthought as they are the natural cooking mediums of stews. Or they're made as an afterthought. Yet, in French-influenced cuisine a sauce is a central part of the culinary experience that adds to the meal itself. Here, two sauces are presented: one classic and one very modern.

Is your social calendar so packed with activities that you don't have time to cook? Try cooking Olive Garden Restaurant recipes - many only need 1/2 an hour to cook.

Are you wondering how you can use up all that leftover turkey? Are you looking for a new way to use it that will surprise your family? Try this Day After Hash! Surprise your family and/or friends at breakfast or brunch with this turkey hash.