December 30, 2007

Not just for the Kitchen...





Spice racks are not just for the kitchen...This spice rack is from the McCormick Gourmet Collection. I first bought one last year, I had "plans" for it and no it wasn't for my kitchen. You generally see these spice racks at you local grocery store or commissary during the holidays. I just looked them up on line and they retail for $75.00 (plus shipping if you buy them on line from McCormick). Now is the time to see if they've been marked down - our commissary had them at a great savings over the retail price at $45.80 before Christmas. Now after Christmas, the spice racks were marked down and they were a down right steal at $22.40! That's like $1 per bottle of herbs/spices and the rack is FREE! The spices alone are worth so much more than $22.40! So here's a picture of what I use the spice rack for in my scrapbook nook...it holds my making memories paints!

December 23, 2007

Gifts made with Love




For me there's nothing more fun that seeing someones face light up when you give them an unexpected Christmas gift- especially when it's something that is home made. For me the holiday gift of choice is a small 4 inch cheesecake. Wrapped up pretty with bright cellophane and a curly ribbon, there's nothing that gets bigger smiles!

December 19, 2007

Cooking and Food Blogs

Besides being passionate about scrapbooking and needlework I'm also passionate about cooking. So of course I like to read cooking and food blogs. If you've not been to it please take a peek at http://www.passionateeater.blogspot.com
http://www.cupcakeblog.com

Both are wonderful food blogs! I look at the pictures at the Passionate Eater blog and I want to recreate all of those wonderful yummy meals! Now over at the cup cake blog- desserts are the topic! I get an ear to ear smile from every post!

So here I have my own little food blog. I need to jot down more recipes and post them here (that's one new years resolution for ya). I'm not happy with giving my family chicken strips and boxed macaroni and cheese - but I do give it to them from time to time. Does it make me a bad Mom? NO, it just makes me a busy Mom. So starting in the new year I'm going to post a recipe every week.

December 18, 2007

Chocolate Volcano Cakes

I've been wanting to make these for quite some time. Believe it or not, I was desperate enough to once buy a box mix to make this. Don't ask about it- it wasn't even close to what the restaurants make. So here I am ready to try making them again- this time with a tried and true recipe from where else- Cooks Illustrated magazine! It's in their Holiday Baking issue so hurry up and get yourself a copy! I got mine at Lowe's (hard to believe right?) but hey they give a 10% discount on magazines!

So knowing full well that one really needs to have the right tools to do the job properly I went to the kitchen store (Someone's in the Kitchen-Rapid City) and bought six 8 ounce ramekins/souffle cups. Only to discover that I bought the wrong size and the wrong number (after putting them through the dishwasher)-oh well! So now I need to go back and purchase eight 4 ounce ramekins. I see myself having quite the variety of ramekins when this is all done and over with (as I already have eight 6 ounce ramekins). So why am I going through all of this? I want to make chocolate volcano cakes for my family for Christmas. Now for me to make sure that I have the right kinds of chocolate they call for in the recipe...just thinking about making this is bringing a HUGE smile to my face.

Christmas Gifts for the Gourmet cook in your family

Christmas time is perfect for picking out special things for the gourmet cook in your family. From fancy schmancy cookware, to cookbooks, kitchen appliances, table linens to kitchen gadgets and exotic spices.

Cookbooks make such wonderful gifts! I find myself in the cook book section. Oh my gosh hold me back! I love cooks books, reading them fills me with such joy and desire to make something yummy for my family. I ended up with a few different kinds of cookbooks and one or two are going to be given away as gifts to some of my girlfriends. There's nothing more fun than trying out new recipes and sharing them with friends. If I'm lucky, my friends will enjoy their cookbooks and share new recipes with me :-)

December 17, 2007

The Ultimate Sticky Buns

I can't begin to tell you have much I enjoy reading Cooks Illustrated and now so does my daughter Hannah. So, the recipe is called "The Ultimate Sticky Buns", the results...they're delicious! I've changed something on the recipe though- I didn't put the finishing pecan nut glaze on them instead I used store bought Cream Cheese Frosting. Oh my gosh, these rival the sticky buns from Cinnabon (no joke). The recipe does take a bit of time okay so it's while from start to finish (over 6 hours). It's all of that rising time that does it, all of the actual preparation time is probably 1 hour max. But in the end it's well worth it! So go out and get the "Holiday" edition of Cooks Illustrated.

December 14, 2007

Panettone

I have such fond memories of Christmas as a child, especially when it came to food. My mother was so frugal throughout the year but when it came to Christmas she pulled out all of the stops. She and my Pop would go to the German Delicatessen and bring home the most delicious imported foods for our Christmas Eve dinner. On one such occasion I remember having first tasted the delightful Italian bread called Panettone. This is so much better than the heavy fruitcakes that are popular here in America.

So with that I'm including a couple of links to recipes for Panettone...enjoy!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Panettone-Loaves/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Panettone-II/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Panettone-I/Detail.aspx

December 12, 2007

Gifts in a Jar

Do you remember when gifts in a jar first gained popularity? It was back in the 90’s when I first too notice of this unique gift giving idea. The great recipe ideas come from a newsletter that I subscribe to called “I’m not Martha”.

Most of the following recipes require a quart jar, large or

small mouth opening. I find though a large mouth works easier

to get the ingredients in.

Besides a quart jar with lids, you will need a large rubber

band. A piece of material 8x8 square. Ribbon to decorate.

After filling the jars, place the material on the lid and

put the rubber band around it to secure it in place. Tie

with decorative ribbon and tie the recipe card to the ribbon

for the directions on how to bake the ingredients. If you

have a printer, print out the tag onto a colorful piece of

paper or onto adhesive paper.

When putting in the ingredients, make sure to pack them down

tightly. If you have loose ingredients like nuts, M&M,

raisins...etc. make sure they are the next ingredient on

top of packed brown sugar. If the next layer is to be white

sugar or flour, the white sugar or flour will seep through

the nuts, M&M...etc some what.

Also when using coco, wipe inside of jar before adding

another ingredient to keep jar looking nice.

Have fun....it's a nice thing to do with your children for

their gifts. They get to feel the pride of having made the

gift.

LAYERED SNACK MIX

Layer snacks into a wide mouth quart canning jar. Select 4

or 5 diferent salty type small snacks of different colors.

Put in even amounts of each kind. As an example, layer in

this order.

Sunflower seeds

Salted peanuts

Fish crackers

Small pretzel nuggets or twists

Raisins

CHRISTMAS SOUP MIX IN A JAR

1/2 cup dry split peas

1/3 cup beef bouillon granules

1/4 cup pearl barley

1/2 cup lentils

1/4 cup dried minced onions

2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice

1/2 cup alphabet macaroni or other small macaroni (put in

a plastic sandwich bag)

In a pint jar, layer the first eight ingredients in the

order given.

Seal tightly

Attach recipe below, to jar:

______________________________________________

Christmas Soup Mix

You will need the following additional ingredients:

1 pound ground beef or stew meat - 3 quarts of water

1 can (28 oz.) tomatoes, undrained.

Remove macaroni and set aside. In a large saucepan

brown beef and drain. Add the water, tomatoes and

soup mix; bring to a boil, reduce heat.

Cover and simmer for 45 min. Add macaroni and simmer

for 20 min. more

______________________________________________

GINGER SPICE MUFFIN MIX IN A JAR

1 3/4 cups flour

2 Tbsp. sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Store the

mixture in an airtight container.

Attach this to the Jar

_____________________________________________

Ginger Spice Muffins

Makes 1 dozen

1 pkg. Ginger Spice Muffin Mix

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and grease 12 muffin

tins. In a large bowl, combine the muffin mix with the

butter, egg, vanilla and milk Stir the mixture until the

ingredients are blended. Do not overmix. The batter will

be lumpy. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full, and bake for 15

minutes.

_______________________________________________

OATMEAL FRUIT COOKIES

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup wheat germ

1 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup raisins

2/3 cup packed flaked coconut

1 cup flour mixed with 1/2 tsp. baking soda and 1/2 tsp.

salt.

Layer ingredients in order given in a quart jar.

Attach recipe below, to jar:

______________________________________________

Oatmeal Fruit Cookies

Empty the contents of the jar into a large bowl. Blend

mixture well before adding: 1/2 cup of softened butter

or margarine. Mix until mixture resembles coarse

crumbs. Beat 1 egg with 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/4 cup

milk. Blend egg mixture into the dough until well

combined. Bake on greased cookie sheet at

350* for 10-14 min. Makes 1- 1 1/2 dozen cookies

______________________________________________

RUSSIAN TEA MIX IN A JAR

2 & 1/2 cup Tang

1 & 1/2 cup white sugar

1 - 12 oz of instant lemonade mix w/o sugar

2 tsp. cloves

1 & 1/2 cup instant Lemon flavored tea

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

Measure out all ingrediants first into separate bowls.

Layer the tang, sugar, lemonade and tea into jar as little

or as much as you like. Repeat the layers often to make a

pretty layered looking sand art type look. Add the cloves,

cinnamon & nutmeg last. This is a very sweet drink.

Attach recipe below, to jar:

______________________________________________

Russian Tea

Mix dry ingrediants well and replace

into your jar for storage. Add 2 Tbls. into

coffee cup and add hot water.

Stir well - Get a good book - relax!

______________________________________________

And for friends who everything especially your love....

FRIENDSHIP CAKE

1 cup of greetings

1 cup of love

1/2 cup of smiles

1 tsp. sympathy

1 large handshake

2 cups hospitality

Cream greetings and smiles thoroughly. Add

handshake separately. Slowly stir

in love. Sift sympathy and hospitality and fold in

carefully.

Bake in warm heart. Serve Often!

_______________

December 11, 2007

Kitchen-Aid


I love this picture! Then again I do like a rainbow of color in my kitchen.
I received a Kitchen-aid stand mixer for Mothers Day 2001. Yes I specifically asked for this appliance, but this isn't any ordinary appliance. I tell ya, I could not be the cheesecake baking Queen that I am today without my trusty Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. I use it several times a week, and I recommend them to any and everyone! It's so worth the money!

December 10, 2007

How to ship home baked cookies

After all of the trouble you go to baking cookies and other
goodies to ship off to your loved ones, the last thing you
want is to have them end up as "crumbs" once they get there.
Here are a few tips on mailing cookies:

* Don't pack crisp and soft cookies together. The moisture
from the soft cookies will seep into the crisp cookies,
making them lose their crunch.


* Don't overstuff or under-stuff your container or the
cookies may be damaged. They should fit snugly so crumple
up some tissue paper to fill the holes if you need.

* Pack in a sturdy tin or airtight container. Place a piece
of bubble wrap on the bottom of the container, then line
the container with waxed paper or cellophane. Leave enough
to tuck over the top once the container is fully packed.
Place one layer of cookies in the container, then cover
with waxed paper. Arrange another layer of cookies,
followed with more parchment paper, and repeat until full.
Tuck the cellophane or parchment paper over the top and
place another piece of bubble wrap on top before sealing
the container.


* Pack your tin or container in a heavy-duty cardboard box
that's large enough to allow a two or three inch cushion
between the tin and the wall of the outside box. Place a
layer of shipping peanuts, air-popped popcorn, or crumpled
paper on the bottom of your shipping box. Set your cookie
tin on this bottom layer. Then fill in the sides and top
with more shipping materials. Seal the shipping box with
two-inch-wide shipping tape.
Don't forget the mailing label and you're ready to ship!