For those of you who don’t know, couscous is a Berber dish consisting of spherical granules made by rolling and shaping moistened semonila wheat and then coating them firmly with wheat flour. It is most popular in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

Couscous are traditionally steamed and fluffed so to separate the granules. Boling or stirring them will reduce the couscous to a thick, mashed potato-like consistency. Like pasta, couscous doesn’t have much flavor to begin with, and because of that, they are usually partnered with flavored stocks, herbs and spices, vegetables, dried fruits, nuts or meat and chicken as toppings.

Here are some cooking tips for couscous:

- Be sure to…

If you don’t have much time to prepare something deliciously tempting for an outdoor picnic, then this is a recipe that you may just want to try out. Grilled in an ordinary charcoal griller (or electric, if you want), the presentation and not to mention the taste of this dessert is something that will be easy enough for all of us to make.

Also, you will be using an ordinary chocolate cake recipe, making it much more easier to do.

Ingredients: (makes 12 to 15 cups)

1 box chocolate cake mix, or 1 batch of batter for a single-layer cake of your choosing

12 large oranges or 15 small oranges (types with a thick rind…

I used to think that artificially-flavored foods or drinks may someday cause me some medical ailments that would be incurable because of the amount of preservatives I let myself consume in the past. But experts are now claiming that regular consumption of low-fat foods and low-calorie drinks may actually improve your diet.

In a study published in the International Journal of Obesity, experts said that people who eats modified foods and drinks had diets 5% lower in fat, consuming 11% more low-fat dairy, and 11% more low-fat sauces and dressings.” It then led researchers to recommend people to use more fat-modified foods and artificial sweeteners in their foods.

But since most of…

Soups are not usually my cup of tea. I am more of a “main dish” eater rather than all the hooplas that prejudges my main meal. And I find that every time I devour appetizers or what-not, it destroys my dinner too. So in the interest or preserving my stomach storage for more delicious food, I always pass on appetizers and soups.

The minestrone soup (pronounced as spelled by Italians), however, is very different from your ordinary cream-based starters. It has a healthy touch to it; and because of its lightness, the soup can stand on its own.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ red onion–diced

½ carrot–diced

½ stick celery–diced

1 clove garlic–minced (crushed)

1…

Weekends would usually constitute to grilling marshmallows for dessert but since the summer season is almost over, we can have one last hurrah for a cool treat.

The Ice Cream Smore Sandwich is the perfect cool dessert treat for a humid day like this. A couple of things you need to know about this dessert: chill your ingredients before combining them and make sure you are using the freshest box of graham crackers you can find in the nearest store.

First, mix the choco fudge syrup and melted marshmallow together then set them aside. The real deal: put on a dallop of choco-smore mixture on top of a graham cracker then add…

The first time I tasted Maraschino cherries, I vomitted immediately. I don’t which one of us is a little strange in the head, but I never understood the fuss in cherries. Well, that is until, of course, I managed to get my hands on a recipe. Provided that I still cannot eat cherries, this dish however gave me something to look forward to in my cousin’s weekly bonding over cherry pie.

Ingredients:

1/2 recipe Plain Pie Pastry (this can be store-bought)

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup water

1 (16-ounce) can cherries, tart or sweet, or fresh cherries

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9-inch pie plate with 1…