Green Christmas Gifts

When it comes to Christmas shopping, a lot of people simply find any sort of gift and that without considering the possibility of a more "green" present. There are actually a lot of earth-friendly items that can be perfect gifts for your friends and loved ones.

For those who enjoys cooking, try to find something from organic snacks to eco-friendly cookware, it may be difficult but there sure are enough you can find around. Any hardcore chefs or food lovers in your family will love items such as compost kits, seed packets, clay pots and pans, bamboo cutlery, chocolate kits, canning supplies, or even solar ovens.

Try the green fabric of vintage clothing alternative. Finding organic or recycled cloth can also be tricky as well as expensive. However, there are plenty of ways to find recycled cotton as a less expensive alternative. However, if cotton proves too expensive, there are plenty of alternative materials for doormats, place mats, throw rugs, sheets, clothing and more made from materials such as recycled plastic, rubber, bamboo, and more. There can even be unique, colorful, stylish, comfortable, and eye catching alternatives to traditional cloth. You can even buy yourself a bag of these green fabric alternative.

Health supplies and toiletries. There are plenty of alternative health goodies you can consider. Whether you have a relative with a sensitivity to chemicals or simply someone who is health conscious, there are plenty of gifts to consider, from plant-based hand lotion to quality vitamins, organic supplements, smoothie mixes, essential oils, yoga mats, and much more. Other practical gifts include organic household cleaners, soaps, bath bombs, and many others.

Anything made of paper are another perfect idea for a Christmas present. Whether you're gifting a relative with personalized business cards, stationary, notebooks, or sketchpads, finding recycled paper products isn't a difficult endeavor. There are actually plenty of elegant paper goods that you wouldn't be able to tell from original paper products. Along with paper recycled from paper, you can also pick out paper goods recycled from other materials, such as plastic, bamboo, denim, and more. For an additional twist, try making your own hand-made paper craft.

Donations: If you're having trouble thinking of what to get a loved one this Christmas, there is always the option of donating money in their name. While this may seem like a simple gift, you would be surprised how touching it can actually be to know that your relatives know what ecological issues you're passionate about. Whether you donate money toward organizations dealing with world hunger, animal rescue, endangered species, forest restoration, or cleaning up oil spills, you'll be able to rest easy in the knowledge that you've thought of a gift that will affect the earth in a positive way.

Thanks to Rick Valence, specialist at C.R.I.S. and a photography expert. He gave me all this tips.

Low-Fat Grilled Meals

Grilled meals are really wonderful. Besides being an enjoyable cooking method for everyone, it can provide you one of the best low fat healthy meals. I've always loved my seafood grilled, I'm so overwhelmed by the grilled seafood's most natural sweet juices that makes it so delicious... and not only do meat and seafood taste great when grilled, but so do grilled vegetables when cooked in charcoal.

I believe grilling preserves the natural tenderness of food, and the unique smoky flavour is hard to beat. Grilled food can also be served up with a great variety of side dishes and salads, you name it. Barbecued foods also offer a fantastic time of healthy eating with great tastes.

Try vegetable courgette, peppers, mushrooms, aubergine, or any of you favorite veggie picks. Skewer them, brush with your favorite Asian sauce and put them on the BBQ, the next time you know it, you are already savoring the best grilled vegetables no one can dare say no.

For your dessert, make a bowl of your favorite fruits served with low-fat yogurt, to pair with your low-fat meat BBQ. And while the charcoal is still hot, pop some unpeeled bananas wrapped in tin foil and leave it to grill for about 15 minutes. It's another addition of a healthy banana grilled dessert!

Learning How To Grill

If you want to be a chef, or an excellent cook, learning cooking skills is your basic step. If you're attending a cooking class, you will learn knife skills, of course it's hard to cook without a single knife- plain and simple.

In one of my classes, how to hold and use a knife remained the most popular. I believe this is because people realize that learning how to properly use a knife is a culinary requirement for you to make the most of cooking by saving time, money and injury in the kitchen! Not to mention, your food will come out a lot better because consistently prepped food cooks consistently. Of course there are other more cooking skills to learn once you get past cooking basics, you soon will reach intermediate to advanced.

One of the most popular cooking technique but most misunderstood is grilling. This cooking skill trips people up because they've been made to believe it is easy. Yes it is simple, but it is tricky because of the high heat. Remember that when grilling, heat must be controlled.

When grilling, it is a rule not to stick to your grill. Use oil and brush or spray your cold grill before lighting up your BBQ. This way, your food will not stick to your grill. Don't forget to soak or coat your skewers for about 15 minutes prior to putting the chunks of food on them. The water will prevent them from burning on the grill. If your use metal skewers, coat them either with canola oil, olive oil or cooking spray to avoid the food sticking to them.

Why Learn Basic Cooking

Perhaps there is no one born of a laddle in the hand. This simply means that every one starts from the beginning.

Aside from learning the basic most well-known techniques of cooking, the next foremost thing to learn is the different cooking terms you will find in recipes. "Scald the milk", "Fold the eggs", "Whisk", and many more. There are actually many expressions that even may so foreign, ignore it and it would mean failure in your recipe. It's basically why we need to learn every single meaning of them.

After getting into the methods of cooking and embracing recipe terms, it is only basic to first teach yourself simpler recipes for a time before exposing your gears to the more complex dishes. Remember that there are recipes that have a little note about their level of complexity which can be a good chance for you to study yourself if it is something you are interested in preparing. Put a lot of patience in your pockets as you add more each time in the learning process. Trust me, it will help you eventually build your own "repertoire" of recipes to work into your own meal planning.

If you're already an experienced home cook, don't hesitate to keep learning. You still will find many new ideas and suggestions that you will get great returns from. I get a lot from putting my readings to reality. Of course perhaps what I am telling you is only a tiny percentage of what there is to learn, but I believe this will always add onto what you have as much as learning more.

If you want to know more, click on the video, http://www.i-hate-cooking-recipes.com/cooking-basics.html