quick

Yearning for a full-bodied burger flavor but staring at a stack of turkey? Magic up that pile o' fowl into tasty turkey burgers with cheddar, courtesy of the Chicago Tribune. You'll need a pound of turkey, an egg and a few southwestern flavors. Read the whole recipe.

Tags: recipe, quick, easy, turkey

A Cookin' Teens Original
© Rising Moon Media, 2009

After sledding or shoveling or dragging yourself home from school through the snow there's one thing that hits the spot perfectly - hot cocoa. Think twice before you reach for that mysterious mix of faux cocoa ingredients in the envelope. You can whip up the real thing in seconds flat. It's not only simple to make, it's good for you, what with the calcium and protein in the milk and the antioxidants in the cocoa. (But don't let that stop you from drinking it!) Here's what you need:

Ingredients

1/2 cup of real cocoa powder (sometimes called baking cocoa)
1/3 cup of sugar (we used turbinado, but white sugar will do)
2 tablespoons of HOT water from the tap
3 cups of milk (we used skim but any will do)

To Prepare

Put the milk in a saucepan and turn heat to medium. In a little bowl, combine the cocoa powder and sugar, and add the hot water (you want the water to be hot so it will melt the sugar). Whisk together until smooth. When the milk is hot to the touch (but not scalding), pour in the cocoa mixture and whisk together. Pour into two mugs and serve.

If you want to jack up the fun factor and decrease the healthy factor, add a few miniature marshmallows and a squirt of whipped cream. Then go shovel some more snow and work off those extra calories...

Enjoy!

Tags: quick, easy

A Cookin' Teens Original

© Rising Moon Media, 2009

This week, in kitchens throughout America, teenagers on vacation from school are performing that ages-old post-holiday ritual: rummaging through containers of leftovers in the fridge in search of something interesting to eat. Oftentimes, though, the search is abandoned in futility. What to do with a handful of chopped olives or a fistful of ham or a sandwich bag of shredded cheese? Plenty, as it turns out.

One yummy and extremely easy option is a frittata. The word "frittata" comes from the Italian and literally means "fried." But the concept has been Americanized to more or less mean an open omelet. And in this recipe, a CT original, that omelet is baked, making the whole procedure simple, yet filled with possibilities.

Best of all, a frittata is great for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or whatever the meal is called when you're eating breakfast at noon, cuz you just got up.

Ingredients

10 eggs
1 1/2 cups of milk
two slices of whole wheat bread (white will do in a pinch), cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 cup of shredded cheese (any kind you have on hand will do, although we love a combination of mozzarella and something smoked, like gouda or cheddar)
a big palmful of cooked meat, such as ham or chicken or roast beef, cut into small cubes
black pepper, to taste

Optional

Use all or none of these ingredients, or make up your own combination from the veggies in your fridge
1 red or green pepper, chopped
4 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup olives, pitted and chopped
1 large handful of raw spinach, arugula, or chard, chopped

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400.
In a very large bowl, whisk together the eggs and the milk. Add in all the other ingredients and combine.

Spray a large (13x9 or so) casserole dish with cooking spray. Cover with foil and bake for half an hour, then remove the foil and bake for half an hour more, or until the frittata is golden around the edges and firm in the middle.

Enjoy!

Tags: quick, easy, breakfast, recipe

Looking for something to cook for mom that not only satisfies her breakfast urge, it puts a fun and funky spin on a morning standard? Check out these pancakes, which combine apples, corn meal and maple syrup. Serve with a hunk of cheddar and some toasted pecans on the side and you got yourself the beginnings of a brunch. Happy Mother's Day! Read the whole recipe in the Athens Banner-Herald.

Tags: quick, easy, recipe, vegetarian, breakfast

This ain't your grandma's catfish recipe. Inspired by the Best Teen Chef 2009 competition, which featured these flat-headed fishies on the front-burner, we found a recipe that jacks them up with jalapenos and mangos and drizzles them with with lime juice. They're cheap, good for you and, once you pre-heat the broiler, are done in about 15 minutes flat. Check it out in Relish Magazine. Read the whole recipe.

Tags: quick, easy, recipe, vegetarian