8 Delectable Cupcake Recipes

Who doesn't love a good cupcake? From classic to creative varieties, these treats will be the hit of any party.

Vanilla Buttermilk CupcakesVanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes
The same basic ingredients that make the cupcake recipe simple also ensure that it is over-the-top delicious. Dress this cupcake recipe up or down for showers, parties, or friendly neighborhood gatherings.

Recipe, Lemon Bars Recipes for high tea

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: About 45 minute
Makes: 16 squares

Sweet and Spicy Mango Curry

KUNAL CHANDRA, Food & Beverage Communications Specialist, heads into the kitchen to create some wonderful mango magic for Yahoo! Promising us a dish that is sweet, spicy and tangy, this mango curry is the season’s best comfort food, sure to light up a warm fire inside. Location Courtesy: Café Grind. Text: ANISHA OOMMEN. Photographs: AZHAR ALI.

Nano s Mango Achār

Editor's Note: Sarah is a Pakistan born American who loves food,spices, nutrition and has a PhD on integrative medicine studying the affect of Ayurveda, Chinese and Allopathic medicine on Diabetes Type II. This intrepid foodie went transcontinental in trying to trace and recreate that exact mango pickle recipe her grandmother made. Sarah recalls this sojourn from her memory buds. She says,’the act of reinventing her recipe is a refuge, ritual, thread and silsila (chain) back to her with a hint, dash and a pinch of improvisation thrown in over time. Truly, a  united subcontinent of the mango!
Though I don't remember my Nano, my mother's mother, when I re-create her mango pickle dish, I taste her memory. Apparently my Nano pampered me during my first two years of life. Rumor has it that my family hoped that I, the third child, would be the first son. When I fell ill after birth, Nano frantically prayed for my recovery and regretted that she had ever thought I should be a boy. She passed away a few years after my parents, two sisters and I planted ourselves in New England.

FISH IGURU

An everyday dish of fish cooked in spices, make the gravy as thin or thick as you like.An easy recipe of fish.very easy to make at home.

Ingredients:500 gm fish (of your choice) - cut into 2 1/2 cm/1" thick     slices, diagonally

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Grind together

1 1/2 cup onion - roughly chopped

1 tsp garlic - chopped

2 tsp ginger - chopped

2-3 dried red chillies

1 tsp salt or to taste

1/2 tsp turmeric

To Proceed

    1/2 cup mustard oil

    1 tsp onion seeds

    1/4 tsp cinnamon - broken in small pieces

    4 cloves

    4 green cardamoms

    1 bay leaf

    2 green chillies - slit lengthwise

    3 cups water

    coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Wash the fish and apply the 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp turmeric over all the pieces.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan, and fry fish slices in it, first on one side, then the other, over high heat, till a golden color.
3. Lift the fish out of the oil, and keep aside. In the same oil, add the onion seeds, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and bay leaf, stir fry 2-3 times, and add the ground paste.
4. Saute till fat separates, then add the green chillies and stir fry a few times.
5. Add the water and bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes, uncovered.
6. Add the fish just before serving, bring to a boil (by which time the fish should be cooked through, otherwise simmer till done), and serve hot garnished with the coriander leaves.

KAJU KI BARFI

Learn how to make Kaju ki Barfi recipe using our easy to make homemade Kaju ki Barfi recipes. Try this homemade Kaju ki Barfi cooking recipe at your home.

Recipe Ingredients:250 gm cashew nuts
250 gm (1 cup) sugar
240 gm (1 cup) milk
few silver leaves - for decoration (optional)
a greased plate to set the barfee in


Recipe Procedure:

CABBAGE SOUP

Cabbage Soup Recipe

Cabbage Soup is a very nutritious recipe. Learn how to make/prepare Cabbage Soup by following this easy recipe. 

Ingredients:1 Head cabbage, shredded or chopped
16-28 Ounces canned tomatoes, chopped
4 Stalks celery
6 Carrots, sliced
2 Big onions, chopped
1/2 Pound green beans, sliced on diagonal
2 Green peppers
Any fresh herb of choice, chopped
Black pepper to taste
1 to 2 Packages lipton onion soup mix, or any dry onion soup mix.

How to make Cabbage Soup:

1. Place all the vegetables in a big pot and cover it with water, bring it to a boil.
2. Stir in the soup mix and boil gently for about 10 minutes.
3. Cover it and decrease the heat and simmer till all the vegetables are soft.
4. Add the black pepper and chopped herbs to it, saving some for garnish.

EGG SALAD

Learn how to make Egg Salad recipe using our easy to make homemade Egg Salad recipes. Try this homemade Ven Pongal cooking recipe at your home.

Ingredients:
6 eggs (fully boiled)

2 boiled Potatoes

1 Capsicum 1 onion (thinly sliced into rings)

1 Tomato (thinly sliced into rings)

2tsp lemon juice

salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

Finely Chopped coriander leaves

Preparation:

Cut eggs into halves.

Take out the yolk and mash with boiled potatoes.

Mix salt, pepper, lemon juice and chopped coriander.

Fill eggs whites with the mixture.

Serve the egg salad in a tray garnished with onion, tomatoes, chopped capsicum & coriander.

Butters and spreads taste tested

Courtesy of Wendalicious.com

The next time you’re cooking, baking, or simply slathering a piece of toast, reach for one of these—the cream of the crop of 78 butters and spreads.

Best Unsalted

 Land O Lakes Unsalted Butter 

The lush, creamy flavor and the silky texture of this workhorse explain why it has been the go-to stick for generations of bakers.

To buy: $4.50 for 1 pound.

Courtesy of Kateshomemadebutter.com Best Salted Kate’s Homemade Butter Tasty crystals of sea salt stud this farm-fresh pick. The ultimate finishing touch for everything from pancakes to peas. To buy: $4.80 for 1 pound.

Courtesy of Organicvalley.coop Best Organic Organic Valley Unsalted Butter Crafted from antibiotic- and pesticide-free milk, this bold option trampled the flat-tasting competition. To buy: $6 for 1 pound.

Courtesy of Walmart.com Best European-Style Plugrá Unsalted Butter Slow churning and less water are the secrets to this intensely rich, golden brick, which is suited to everycooking task. To buy: $3 for 8 ounces.

Courtesy of Walmart.com Best Spreadable Country Crock Spreadable Butter Good things—and softened butter—come to those who wait. For those who can’t, try a schmear of this salty blend of butter and canola oil. It has a balanced flavor that bested its greasy rivals. To buy: $3.20 for 12 ounces.

Photo: Thinkstock Best Light Land O Lakes Light Other light varieties tended to be gritty and overly soft, but this winner has a smooth consistency and a mild flavor. Formulated for spreading, not cooking, it clocks in with half the calories of standard butter (just 50 per tablespoon) and 6 grams of fat (versus 11). To buy: $4.80 for 1 pound.

Courtesy of Walmart.com Best Butterlike Spread Brummel & Brown Made With Nonfat Yogurt Yogurt lends brightness to this tangy, low-calorie butter alternative for those looking for a cholesterol-free topper. It’s meant for bagels and bread, not cooking.

10 Best and Worst Frozen Foods

For someone who loves eating healthfully, I'm a terrible cook. If a recipe calls for more than five ingredients or uses a word like "julienne," I bail and curl up with a bag of baby carrots on the kitchen floor, rocking myself.

Related: 7 Simple Diet Secrets You Can Start Today

So for me, the frozen foods aisle at the grocery store can be a savior. The only problem? A lot of frozen meals have hidden health horrors.

"Most frozen meals are high in sugar and sodium, contain tons of preservatives, and don't have much to offer in terms of fruits, vegetables, or fiber," says Laura Cipullo, a registered dietician and certified diabetes instructor in New York City.

Related: Road Test: Check Out the Crazy Detox Diet Our Editor Tried ...

So what's a healthy-eating, recipe-averse, busy-girl-on-the-go supposed to do? Choose the healthiestfrozen meal option, of course. Because for every chemical-laden, fat-filled frozen meal, there is a comparable option with better ingredients and less fat.

Here are the 10 worst frozen foods you can eat -- and their healthier, just-as-tasty stand-ins:

The Worst: Kashi Sweet and Sour Chicken

Kashi usually serves up quality meal with top-notch ingredients, but this dish has a whopping 25 g of sugar. That equals two Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

The better bet? Kashi Lemongrass Coconut Chicken, which has a way more reasonable 6 g of sugar per meal.

Related: 9 Wacky Fitness Devices That Really Work

The Worst: Hot Pockets Calzone, Pepperoni and Three Cheese

This pocket may be stuffed with flavor, but it's also stuffed with ingredients -- more than 100 of them, in fact. How they made pizza so complicated is beyond us.

The better bet? Amy's Cheese Pizza in a Pocket Sandwich, which has 15 ingredients. "As a rule, the fewer ingredients in frozen dinners, the healthier," Cipullo says. Bonus: none of the ingredients in this healthy swap are preservatives of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The Worst: Banquet Boneless Pork Rib (Shaped Patty Meal)

What on earth is a "shaped patty meal," you ask? You probably don't want to know, Cipullo says. This dish contains controversial ingredients such as MSG, butylated hydroxytoulene (BHT, which is used to slow the rancidity of oil and fats in foods), and partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

The better bet? Organic Bistro's Beef Tips with Mushroom Sauce, which is free of questionable fillers and made with organic rice and veggies.

The Worst: Boston Market Chicken Pot Pie

Pot pie may be the ultimate in comfort food, but the 780 calories and 48 g of fat in this frozen meal will make your body feel anything but comfortable.

The better bet? Applegate Farm's Chicken Pot Pie, which is made with extra veggies and has less than half the fat of Boston Market's pie.

Related: "I Worked Out with Kim Kardashian's Trainer"

The Worst: Totino's Party Pizza, Hamburger

Here's one way to have the party come to a screeching halt: Tell your guests you're serving a pizza with a whopping 5 g of trans fat, which raises levels of LDL (the "bad" cholesterol) and lowers levels of HDL (the "good" cholesterol).

The better bet? Healthy Choice's Pepperoni French Bread Pizza, which has just a quarter of the fat of Totino's -- and no trans fat.

The Worst: Banquet Mexican Style Enchilada Combo Meal

This meal packs a surprising amount of hydrolyzed soy protein (a hidden source of MSG), which means that you may think you're eating beef, but a lot of it is meat-flavored soy.

The better bet? O Organics Organic Black Bean Enchiladas: no saturated fat or cholesterol, more than twice the protein of Banquet's meal, and it's USDA-certified organic. True, it's not beef, but it's not like you were getting much of that with the Banquet meal anyway.

The Worst: Hungry-Man Bourbon Steak Strips

With 9 g of saturated fat and 72 percent of your recommended daily intake of sodium (1,720 mg!), not even the hungriest man -- or woman -- should touch this meal.

"Stick to frozen food options that have 600 mg or less per serving," Cipullo says. "Otherwise, you're bound to go over the recommended daily value that's between 1,500 and 2,300 mg."

The better bet? Blake's Organic Macaroni and Beef, which has 404 mg of sodium and an all-organic ingredient list.

Related: 7 Best and Worst Sugar Substitutes

The Worst: Buitoni's Four Cheese Spinach Ravioli

Buitoni pulls a fast one with this "single-serve" meal: It packs in two servings. And is anyone seriously going to stop at eating half the box? The double serving translates into 42 g of fat, 200 mg of cholesterol (66 percent of the daily value), and 1,872 mg of sodium (78 percent of the daily value).

The better bet? Candle Café's Vegan Tofu Spinach Ravioli. It has zero cholesterol and uses tapioca cheese (which sounds suspect, but don't worry -- it tastes exactly like the real stuff, and is much better for you).

The Worst: El Monterey Beef & Bean Green Chili Burrito

El Monterey wins the dubious honor of worst burrito -- the list of ingredients in it is practically a mile long. But even the brands with less junk in them don't get Cipullo's stamp of approval -- most of the frozen burritos we checked out clocked in around 10 g of fat and 700 mg of sodium (about 30 percent of the daily recommended intake).

The better bet? EVOL's Mini Chicken Bean & Rice Burrito. With all-natural ingredients and a slightly more petite size, it has a third of the calories and less than half of the fat and sodium of its larger-portioned counterparts.

The Worst: Bertolli Tuscan Style Beef & Vegetables Soup

Most packaged soups contain a lot of sodium, but Bertolli takes the salty stuff to a new level: 1,110 mg, almost half of the recommended daily intake. It also has 20 g of fat (7 g is saturated fat).

The better bet? Kettle Cuisine's Angus Beef Steak Chili with Beans -- just 540 mg of sodium, plus twice the fiber and five grams more of protein than Bertolli's. Want even less sodium? Look for a veggie-only soup.

Related: 10 Ways to Drop 5 Pounds by This Weekend 

How to Make Perfect McDonald s style French Fries at Home

Perfect homemade friesEven food snobs who shun McDonald's have to admit that they serve the mother of all French fries. Ray Kroc, one of the chain's founders wrote in his autobiography that the fry was "almost sacrosanct for me. Its preparation a ritual to be followed religiously." The end result is a crispy golden-brown baton showered with just the right amount of salt. The exterior's initial crunch yields to a tender and steaming white center. More, please?

Related: The Best and Worst Burgers

"They are consistent," says David Myers, chef/owner of Comme Ca in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. "I can't imagine how many millions of dollars in research and development they have spent in order to achieve a perfect fry around the world." Myers is no stranger to fried potatoes. His restaurants, which serve classic French brasserie fare, cook hundreds of orders of "pommes frites" (French-fried potatoes) a week.

McDonald's French fries are shipped to outlets frozen. "We do all of ours fresh everyday," says Myers who uses the same recipe at his restaurants and at home. Myers also uses the best Idaho russet potatoes, French sea salt, and super fresh cooking oil.

He says the key to making a perfect, consistent, McDonald's-style fry is in the advance preparation. The cut potatoes need to be soaked for at least two hours before cooking which pulls out excess starch and ensures the crispiest product. Also, Myers recommends that, "you have plenty of paper towels, a lined sheet pan, and have your oil ready to go."

Related: Seven Best Fast Food Meals Under 350 Calories

The beauty of Myers' two-step cooking method is that you can cook your fries ahead of a dinner party and keep them in the fridge until you are ready to finish in hot oil just before serving. This way you get the most delicious, sizzling, salty, golden-brown fries every time.

Perfect French Fries (adapted from David Myers's recipe for "pommes frites")

Ingredients:

• 6 Idaho russet potatoes
• Peanut oil
• Sea salt (Myers prefers Sel Gris, a fine light grey French salt)

Method:

Peel and square off potato ends. Cut into 3/8" batons. Soak for two hours changing water after an hour. Dry thoroughly with paper towels. Heat about an inch of oil (or enough to cover potatoes) in a large, heavy bottomed pot to 290 degrees. Blanch potatoes gently for about two minutes until cooked through but still completely pale. Place on a paper-towel lined sheet pan and cool in the refrigerator to stop cooking process.

Re-heat oil to 370 degrees. Cook fries until golden and crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes. If necessary, agitate gently with a spatula to prevent sticking. Remove from pan and toss with salt to taste (Myers doesn't blot but you can if you want less fat). Serve immediately. Recipe serves 4 to 6.

Beware the Meat Myths

When it comes to cooking meat I have my own personal set of "rules." I prefer to grind my own meat, buy fresh and local whenever possible, and never, ever, buy meat on sale (think about it…)

But there are quite a few rules that are based in fiction -- myths that have survived decades and continue to offer bad advice to the home cook. Let's bust them, shall we?

Myth #1: Searing meat seals in juices.

Forget this one. It's not true -- never has been, and never will be. Most likely the idea came from the crusted exterior that meat develops as it's seared; surely that crust will seal in the juices, right? But in the test kitchen we tested this old maxim by weighing steaks before and after they were cooked. Some were seared first, others weren't. There was no difference in the amount of juices that were lost between the various steaks. None, nada, bupkis.

The main purpose of searing is to add flavor by converting natural sugars and amino acids into flavor compounds via browning. If you want juicy meat, you can slow roast it (which prevents meat juices from being squeezed out.) And always let meat rest after cooking so that it can reabsorb any of those precious juices.

Myth #2: Marinating meat makes it juicy or tender.

No, it doesn't. Marinades are usually made with some kind of oil, citrus, and herb combo that can only penetrate the very exterior of meat. In the test kitchen we found that after 18 hours, a red wine marinade made its way ONE MILLIMETER into beef. Hey, that's perfect for tenderizing those two-millimeter thick steaks!

Now if that marinade contains an acidic ingredient -- like the above-mentioned citrus, or vinegar -- you can actually do more damage to the meat. Acids will begin to break down the exterior fibers of the meat. Left too long in an acidic soak, that exterior will go from meaty, to mushy, and eventually, chalky and dry.

So the takeaway here is that if you want to flavor thin cuts of meat -- cut for a stir fry or paper-thin paillards for example -- go ahead and give them a quick 10-minute-or-so marination for flavor.

Myth #3: Eating pink pork will make you sick.

Once upon a time this may have been true as there was a fear of ingesting an ugly parasite named trichinosis. Cooking pork to a safe, but gray interior temperature of 160 degrees would kill off trichinosis -- but who would want to eat that dried up chop?

Today, government standards have all but eliminated the risk of trichinosis contamination from pork. According to the Center for Disease Control, between the years of 1997 through 2001, the average reported cases of trichinosis was twelve.

So go ahead and go for a slightly rosy hue. The test kitchen highly recommends cooking that pork chop or loin roast until it registers an internal temperature of 140 to 145. And be sure to let the pork rest for 10 minutes or so-the internal temperature will continue to rise 5 to 10 degrees, but the meat will still be beautifully moist.

Myth #4: Always rinse off poultry that comes from the supermarket.

Back away from the sink my friend. I know that it's been pounded into your brain that you should unwrap that poultry and give it a good rinse in the sink. But beware that what you're most likely doing is splashing all of those yummy surface pathogens over your sink, faucet, and surrounding area. Now, if you're willing to give the sink a super-thorough scrub down it will be fine, but you're better off simply cooking the poultry to a safe internal temperature (165 degrees for the breast meat and 175 for the thigh meat.)

So those are a few of the myths out there. I hope that busting through these gives you more confidence when preparing meat.

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