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Spice up the holidays with online assistance
Looking for fun ways to spruce up the upcoming holiday festivities? How about surprising your friends and family with some delicious recipes that will spice up a party or celebration? The World Wide Web provides both traditional and unique recipes that will liven up any event.
If you hardly ever cook, but want to impress your friends and relatives this season, start with learning the basics. The Reluctant Gourmet at http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/ has cooking tips, techniques and recipes from a viewpoint of a nonprofessional chef. A list from A-Z provides explanations of culinary terms that every novice should know. Once you've mastered some basic cooking techniques and stocked your kitchen drawer with the appropriate tools, you can move on to more advanced sites.
To plan the perfect Thanksgiving dinner, you'll want to look at the Food Network's "Holiday Countdown Tips" at http://www.foodtv.com. The timeline for a stress-free meal includes a three-week schedule with directions on what to prepare for the important day. Use the handy turkey calculator, the Turkeylator, to calculate your cooking time and cooking sequence. The Food Network site has a wealth of information for all types of recipes and many different holidays. Check out Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals for quick and easy recipes. You'll need a break after your elaborate holiday cooking!
For a meatless feast, use the vegetarian section at All Recipes (http://www.allrecipes.com/). It includes answers to "Frequently Asked Questions" about vegetarian cooking, along with step-by-step photo tutorials. All Recipes also provides healthy solutions for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
For multicultural cuisine, go to the International Vegetarian Union (IVU) at http://www.ivu.org/recipes/holiday/. It has veggie holiday recipes from all over the world that will jazz up any party.
At Epicurious: The Worlds Greatest Recipe Collection (http://eat.epicurious.com/recipes/), you can access more than 16,000 recipes, including the current month's recipes from the culinary magazines Gourmet and Bon Appétit. The essential wine guide will tell you the best accompaniment for any meal.
Let your kids help you in the kitchen. Go to http://www.kidsrecipe.com/ to learn more about cut-out cookie fun and how to make candy turkeys. At Holiday Family Fun (http://www.holidayfamilyfun.com), you and your children can learn how to make easy desserts, as well as inexpensive holiday crafts and decorations.
Finally, if you strive for perfection in your holiday entertaining, you might want to visit the Martha Stewart Web site at http://www.marthastewart.com/. Not only will you discover how to make a faultless pie crust, you'll find tips on how to create an inviting atmosphere for your guests.
Whatever the occasion, whether you're a gourmet or a beginner, the Web is your key to a cornucopia of delightful recipes and menu tips.
—Laura Taddeo and Cynthia Tysick, University Libraries