Heathly Eating Gift Certificate
Want to treat your friend to healthier eating? We can help. With the current tough economy, why not give a gift that is healthful, and useful for the recipient. We offer one-year membership gift certificates to our Meal Planning and Recipe website; just right for that hard to buy-for friend, aunt or anyone else who can use a lift out of the day to day cooking grind.
To purchase click on Register Now! On the Home page of our site: www.emealsforyou.com. Complete the very short form with the person’s name (don’t worry if you don’t know their email address; use yours and use 12345 as the password; they can change both later), and use URGIFT-53 as the sponsoring Identifier and receive the discounted price of $30. Then click on CONTACT at the bottom of the page and tell us who and where to mail the gift certificate. That’s it; simple and quick. If you wish to purchase more than 1 gift certificate contact us first and we will give you a further discount for multiple purchases. The gift certificates may be customized with photos or phrases.
Running a little late? We can send you a certificate (PDF format) that you can print on your printer. We are standing-by, remember to send us an email so that we can customize the certificate and get it right back to you via email.
Add comment September 1, 2010
5-Day Weekly Meal Plans at www.emealsforyou.com
For those of you who prefer weekly meal plans we have 20 weekly plans for you to chose from, that’s 5 months worth of headache-free meals, complete with scalability and shopping lists. To see the post regarding the new 5-day Weekly Meal Plans click here!
Add comment November 5, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Gluten Free – Flourless Chocolate Cake
(From the Gluten Free Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Flourless Chocolate Cake
As you may know we are adding new areas to our website. Besides expanding our Vegan category we have added a Gluten Free category. It seems everywhere I go someone says they are gluten intolerant. Being the huge “bread” person I am that really bothers me. Along with registered Dietitian Lisa M. Ronco, MS RD CDN, we will endeavor to develop recipes and meal plans for our readers and members of our website: emealsforyou.com, who have problems planning meals around their eating preferences.
Most of us consider gluten free foods to be bland and tasteless; not so around here. This cake is wonderful, smooth and chocolaty without a speck of flour. As with all of our recipes in the Gluten Free category this is a keeper that you will find the whole family will enjoy, even without flour.
Dessert – Flourless Chocolate Cake
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 10 |
| Category: | Gluten Free |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 8 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 16 | oz | chocolate, semi-sweet bar |
| 9 | large | egg, separated |
| 1 | cup | sugar, white |
| 3 | Tb | cocoa |
| 10 | oz | chocolate, semi-sweet bar |
| 1 | cup | cream, heavy |
Preheat oven to 350. butter a 9” springform pan; line the bottom with buttered wax paper, dust with cocoa powder. Melt chocolate and butter together, allow to cool slightly. Separate eggs; beat yolks on medium for 1 minute, add sugar and beat until light yellow. In a separate bowl beat egg whites until just peaking. Blend cooled chocolate with egg yolks, add cocoa; fold in egg whites. Pour into pan, bake for 40-45 minutes. This is a very moist cake and an inserted knife should come out barely wet. Allow to cool for ½ hour prior too removing from pan.
Heat cream until just below boil, remove from heat, and stir in chocolate until melted.
May be reheated slowly to melt.
Pour chocolate ganache over top, leave on counter until ready to serve.
If you refrigerate this cake the ganache will lose its shine.
·Note: This is almost a souffle; it will rise and drop, if the center caves in don’t panic. Fill with berries and pretend it was on purpose. It happens to all of us.
Find more recipes like this at emealsforyou.com.
Add comment August 30, 2010
Keeping Up with Changing Times
Times are changing; people are eating healthier. Many more people are developing allergies to foods. People want better foods; better food for them and their families. They are finding cooking from scratch to be a healthy alternative to all the processed foods on the market. We here and on our sister site, www.emealsforyou.com, are teaming up with registered Dietitian Lisa M. Ronco, MS RD CDN, to provide you with great recipes and meal plans that are healthy and assist you in preparing meals for those family members with health problems.
Currently in conjunction with our numerous recipe and meal plan categories ( to see all the Recipe and Meal Plan categories on emealsforyou.com click here ) we provide recipes and meal plans designed around:
Diet Friendly, good for you, balanced recipes along with Careful and Carefree Meal Plans providing 4 full weeks of meal plans (3 per day) and snacks (2 per day) fully scalable to the number of people you are feeding. As an added bonus simply click a button and print a shopping list for your choices.
Gluten Free, gluten free doesn’t have to be tasteless.
Sodium Reduced, healthier recipes for sodium restricted diets.
Vegan, for those who choose a diet based on a respect for the natural world.
Vegetarian Entrée, great ways to get balanced meals.
WOW (Watching Our Weight), our great recipes scaled down but not out.
Our Weekly Meal Planner provides you with 5-day meal plans with no repeated entrees and 20 full weeks of meals. All of our recipes and meal plans are automatically scalable; design your menu around feeding 1,2,4,6,8,10 or 12 people. Simply drop the recipes and meal plans in your Favorites Box and you are two mouse clicks away from printing a complete shopping list.
In the coming weeks we will add recipes and meal plans for creating diabetic friendly menus. Additionally, Lisa M. Ronco, MS RD CDN will be creating a method to provide guidance for those who wish a more “hands on” approach to healthy eating.
Add comment August 25, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Twice Baked Potatoes
(From the Starch Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Twice Baked Potatoes
Another weekend another birthday party dinner, and of course I overdid it again. Three appetizers, main course including two salads, two desserts. It was worth it all though as we had a great time and the food was great. I was looking for an alternative to my usual mashed potatoes and decided to take the extra steps to make the potatoes special. Twice baked potatoes have always been a big favorite around here and just placing them on the table gets “ahs” all around.
Baking the potatoes instead of peeling and boiling them adds flavor and texture. You can buy these pre-made at the grocery but come-on, a few minutes more and your kids will thank you for your effort. Make a ton because they will disappear fast, and they also freeze nicely.
Twice Baked Potatoes
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Starch |
| Meal: | 29 and Holding (Celebration Meal Plans) |
| 6 | medium | potatoes, baked |
| 0.75 | cup | sour cream |
| 4 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
| 0.125 | tsp | paprika, sweet |
Baked potatoes until fork tender. Cool slightly and cut in half. Carefully scoop the potato out of the skins, keeping the skins whole. Mash potatoes in a bowl, adding the butter and sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste, fill potato skins with the mashed potatoes and sprinkle the top with paprika. May be made in advance then heated in warm oven.
Add comment August 23, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Keeping it Simple – Easy Appertizers
(From the Appetizer Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Dates and Goat Cheese
Melon and Ham
I seem to be on a mission to find easy but good food; maybe it is the unbelievable heat we have been having. Simple seems to have a special appeal when the thermometer reads in the high 90′s. The neighbors came over last night for dinner and I was scratching my head to come up with some quick and easy appetizers. I had a ripe cantaloupe, some excellent Polish ham, some dates and a little goat cheese. Add a few drops of honey and you have pretty good summer appetizers. They must have hit the spot as they disappeared from the plate just about as quickly as they took to assemble.
Melon and Ham
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Appetizer |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 0.25 | small | cantaloupe |
| 2 | slices | prosciutto, sliced |
Cut melon into small chunks. Wrap a small piece of the prosciutto around the melon, secure with a toothpick and serve.
Note: You may use any ham you have available.
Dates with Goat Cheese
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Appetizer |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 1 | cup | dates, whole |
| 2 | Tb | cheese, goat |
| 1 | tsp | honey |
Cut dates in half and remove the pit. Place a small dollop of the goat cheese in each half and drip a drop or two of honey on the top. Serve at room temperature.
See more quick, easy and good appetizers at emealsforyou.com
Add comment August 16, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Uncommon Results from Common Ingredients – Grapefruit Sorbet
(From the Appetizer Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Grapefruit Sorbet
I’m big on “pantry cooking.” I believe you should be able to make wonderful meals from what you have around the kitchen, whether in the pantry, frig or freezer. With just a little imagination you should be able to cobble together an easy appetizer, meal or dessert from items you have on hand. At emealsforyou.com we give you a list of what we consider essentials for stocking away.
This weekend we were running a little short on appetizers so I went to the pantry and started looking for a quick, easy appetizer to make. A can of black beans from the shelf, some fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden, some pickled pepper rings from the frig and some frozen pita bread all went together to make a very good relish and chips. Add a few spices and herbs to your taste and you will wish you had written the recipe down for future use.
Along these lines I give you the easiest recipe I can think of. Serve this grapefruit sorbet between courses at a formal dinner or have it following a salad for lunch to make it special. So the next time you are in the store pick up a can of frozen grapefruit juice to save for a “rainy” day.
Grapefruit Sorbet
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Appetizer |
| Meal: | J & B’s Silent Auction Dinner (Distinctive Dinners) |
| 12 | oz | grapefruit juice, frozen concentrate |
| 24 | oz | water |
Combine frozen concentrate and water and process in ice cream maker until frozen. May be made in advance. Use as a palette cleanser between courses.
Add comment August 9, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Hot Fudge Sundae
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
We are having a going away party for a couple in our neighborhood group this weekend and I am responsible for the desserts. I have over 100 dessert recipes on my website (emealsforyou.com) so finding something to make wasn’t the problem, deciding what to make was. After kicking around several ideas we hit on having an old-fashioned Ice Cream Social. We will set up a dessert station with ice cream, hot fudge sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream and of course cherries to top it all off. The perfect finish for the neighborhood party.
This hot fudge sauce is extremely easy it make and has always elicited rave reviews. Make a double batch, it lasts forever in the frig, well almost forever depending on your families addiction to chocolate.
Hot Fudge Sauce
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | Santa Fe Feast (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, white |
| 0.5 | cup | corn syrup, light |
| 1 | Tb | vanilla |
| 1.5 | Tb | butter, unsalted |
| 0.25 | cup | cream, heavy |
| 0.5 | cup | cocoa |
Heat sugar, syrup, vanilla, cream and butter in a heavy sauce pan until blended. Mix in cocoa and stir.
Hint: may be kept in the refrigerator for weeks. Re-heat in microwave.
Add comment August 3, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Back to Basics – Sunday Roasted Chicken
(From the Chicken Entrée Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Sunday Roasted Chicken
We found some New (red) potatoes at the local farmers’ market on Saturday and my wife said she would like to have some new potatoes with butter and parsley, just like her mom used to make. After a couple of weeks of high “intensity” food feasts it made sense to get back to basics. For me there is nothing like a great, roasted chicken to bring it back down to the ah!!!! refreshing dinnertime we all need once in a while.
Moist chicken, crisp skin and smooth, tasty gravy; there is nothing better to renew your belief in simple is good cooking. Homemade bread, some fresh tomatoes and capers rounded out a quick and easy panzanella salad. We even skipped dessert.
Sunday Roasted Chicken
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Chicken Entrée |
| Meal: | Mom’s Out of Town (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 6 | lb | chicken, whole, oven-stuffer |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | tsp | salt and pepper to taste |
| 2 | medium | lemons |
| 1 | medium | garlic, whole head |
| 1 | 14 oz. can | chicken broth |
| 1 | Tb | cornstarch |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Rinse and dry chicken thoroughly. Cover outside with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper over skin. Cut one lemon in half; cut garlic head in half, and place both inside cavity of chicken. Place in an over-proof roaster pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, roast chicken for 15-17 minutes per pound or until juices run clear. Place broth and lemon, cut in half, in a saucepan on stove, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove chicken from pan, place pan on top of stove. Remove lemon from broth, add chicken broth, reserving 1/2 cup, to roasting pan and stir. Add cornstarch to reserved chicken broth, stir broth into roasting pan, and cook on low until thickened. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove garlic, discard garlic skin, and add cloves to gravy. Remove and discard lemon halves inside of the chicken.
Serve with gravy on side.
Add comment July 26, 2010
It’s on the site! – A Rant and a Rockin’ Recipe
(From the Misc Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Our friends and old neighbors were here this weekend. It was great to catch up, great conversations over good food and wine. One thing stood out; after our week-long trip to New Jersey last week and their visit this week I found myself saying over and over again, “it’s on the site.” I provide free recipes here on the blog but I have hundreds of recipes and meal plans on my website: emealsforyou.com. If you like what you see here you should go over to the website and give it a try. The goal is to get you and your family and friends sitting down to good food and great conversations.
Here is a really good recipe for margaritas provided by our friend Laura from her father. These are smooth, delicious and deadly. Thanks Rick!
Rockin’ Rick’s Margaritas
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Misc |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 1 | 12 oz can | limeade |
| 4 | 12 oz can | water |
| 1 | 12 oz can | Triple Sec |
| 1 | 12 oz can | tequila |
| 0.75 | 12 oz can | vodka |
Pour limeade into a blender, add 4 cans of water, 1 can of Triple Sec, 1 can of tequila and .75 can of vodka. Blend well and serve over ice.
Add comment July 19, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Shrimp 101
(From the Appetizer Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Oven-roasted Shrimp
We made our quarterly trek to New Jersey last week to see family and friends. The trip was great but a lot of driving as the side trips were a little more involved then usual. We ate too much food, some at restaurants and most at my mother-in-law’s house. Traditionally we do Porterhouse steaks on the grill on our last night there, this time we did them on the next to last. With family, friends and friends of family present we had a wonderful time and I got to go to my favorite grocery store, Wegman’s, for the 2″ thick steaks.
I took along a carrot cake, some angel food cakes and those wonderful chocolate cookies/cakes that are used for ice cream sandwiches. I also made, at my mother-in-law’s request, the largest pot of hot fudge sauce I have ever made. Appetizers consisted of blue cheese stuffed mushroom caps, tapenade on toast points and the shrimp; which brings me to the reason for this post.
First a quick primer on shrimp. I get questions all the time about how to determine which shrimp to use and why. so here we go. The number on the bag is the number per pound, 15 -21 means that you can expect to find 15 to 21 shrimp per pound. 31-36 means 31 or so to the pound. So basically the less per pound, lower number, the larger the shrimp. The second fact is wild caught verses everything else. Don’t worry about fresh verses frozen or frozen thawed as most of the shrimp is frozen as soon as it is caught to keep it fresh. Unless you live on the coast and can buy your shrimp from the boat that caught them, and by all means do this if possible, buy the frozen. If you can get the wild caught, this means they are not from a “shrimp farm” where they are raised on specific foods, usually in fresh water ponds; spend the extra buck or two and see how good the wild caught really are. A quick note on prawns, those huge 6 or so per pound giants in the seafood case, they are almost always farm raised and while impressive to see lack any real flavor.
Every time I make a shrimp dish using the wild caught I get tons of compliments on not only the taste but also on the texture. Please don’t overcook shrimp, they cook very quickly, which makes them the ideal easy appetizer. With cocktail sauce or sautéed or baked get a little wild in your life and give these a try.
Oven-roasted Shrimp
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Appetizer |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 1 | lb | shrimp, deveined, shelled |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 4 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Place the shrimp, olive oil, chopped garlic and salt and pepper in a large plastic bag. Shake the bag and let stand for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place contents of bag on a jellyroll pan (cookie sheet with a lip) and cook in oven for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Add comment July 12, 2010
