The recipes for the 2009 effort. I don't know if I'll succeed, but I'm going to try!

Wednesday: Make the chill-ahead items, like the gingerbread and pie dough.

Thurs & Fri (morning): Bake!

Friday Eve: Christmas party at my house, with Christmas Dinner (I'm not catering to that, except with breads and sweets).

( Ginger Cookies (a.k.a. Gingerbread) )




( Scotch Shortbread with Jam )




( Banana Bread )



( Santa's Whiskers )



( Chocolate Chip Cookies )



( Pumpkin Pie )




( Anzac Biscuit Recipe )




( Caramel Apple Pie-Tart-Thing )



( Grandma Pawlak's Homemade Bread )




( Mincemeat Drop Cookies )

I'm a newbie cook, but for years my mother has made Microwave Fudge that everyone loves. Unfortunately I can't get the specific recipe from her right now, but Google found me this one that after comparing with several others, seems to be the same thing. I've made it once before with her recipe, yesterday was my second try.

It came out tasting a lot more like powdered sugar than chocolate. :/

Do I lessen the sugar, increase the cocoa, do something else or find a different recipe?

I'm looking for ideas and/or recipes for some kind of yummy favor that could be sent home with guests after a dinner. There will be sugary desserts galore at the dinner itself so I'm trying to find a take-along nibble that will balance that out.

My first thought was some kind of snack mix, but that doesn't feel very special. Any other ideas? We'll be doing this for a crowd of about 40.

When you embroider a hankie, what happens to the backside?
Do you just leave it with all the messy back work or ???
Thanks!

I had time on my hands today and couldn't sew because my machine is busted, so I tried paper craft instead! I'm pleased with the way it turned out, being my first attempt and all. It's a card for my friend who is getting married in Vegas tonight.
( Pictures of the front and back of the card )

My father has been put on a low-as-possible-salt diet, and this throws lots of our usual holiday foods out the window. Not that they were salt licks to begin with, but I was amazed to discover how much sodium there is in my mother's banana bread recipe (for example)! Ham is, of course, right out.

What I'm thinking right now is poached salmon, boiled potatoes and the best asparagus I can find for the main meal. I'm thinking about adding a hollandaise sauce to that -- does anybody know how vital the salt is to the recipe? I might leave it in, depending on what the whole day's menu looks like.

I think I'll make some devilled eggs beforehand...or those and the hollandaise might make the whole thing too eggy. Hmm.

Anybody have good appetizer or dessert suggestions? My kids have what few brain cells they've left me with doing the hokey pokey....

I've been a busy bee, making my hair clips. Here are the newest ones!
( Read more... )

Tiny tiger!



I have some recent projects as well as a short survey I'd appreciate anyone filling out for me :)


( knit, crochet, questions! )


Thank you, thank you, thank you for any help and/or feedback!

I finished my first amigurumi today, a star wars inspired yoda for my boyfriend! also behind the cut is a cowl scarf, and a felted totoro.


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Hi foodies,

I come to you in search of your favorite eggplant parmesan recipe. I'm making this for my family on Christmas Eve - and, though my mom is an eggplant addict and a connoisseur of eggplant parmesan, we don't have a good recipe in the family!

Hit me up with your faves - time consuming, fattening and elaborate recipes are no constraint. :)

I recently made a crockpot Hungarian stew that called for a half cup of chili sauce. I had two chili sauces on hand: Frank's Red Hot (a cayenne pepper sauce) and Sriracha, a garlic and chili sauce. I went with Frank's Red Hot and only used a scant 1/3 cup. The stew is okay but kind of vinegary and hot. I was wondering if maybe "chili sauce" meant something in particular that I'm not familiar with. What do you think chili sauce is? What would you have used?

Yeah.
I got some at the new Portuguese store - now I'm very curious to try them.
Any recipes or advice? (aside from the collard greens, which seems to be the only thing I can find online?
Do they need to be cooked?

thanks :)

I'm going to be preparing a steak for my meat eating boyfriend. (I don't eat meat) And I want it to be VERY yummy. I was going to prepare a sirloin but someone convinced me that I should prepare a rib-eye or porterhouse because they have more flavor. True or false? And which should I pick?

So, I don't have a grill so that's out. But I'm wondering if broiling would be better than pan-frying?

I really don't know how to prepare meat. If I want to cook the meat medium-rare how long should I cook it? Should I serve it with a flavored steak-butter or horseradish? Or something else? I was thinking of a baked potato and asparagus as side dishes. Are they good choices? HELP??? I don't cook often and when I do it's mostly vegetables which take almost zero effort. Please don't make any complicated suggestions like a soufflé.

I was planning on making brownies and the recipe calls for baking chocolate, but I picked up "milk chocolate flavoured cake covering" by mistake. I'm not sure what makes it cake covering as opposed to baking chocolate so I'm not sure whether I'll be able to use it. So, can I use it in the recipe instead or in some way? If not, how else could I use it? I don't think I'll ever use it as proper cake covering so other suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks in advance!

More at my food blog HERE
or you can even join my facebook fan page for my blog HERE

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Hi everyone. I got a little problem. I picked up a big pork tenderloin at the supermarket and it's got a lot of fat in it. I've never had that problem with tenderloins I got from Costco so I don't know how to fix it because trimming it all out doesn't really work.

So can anyone recommend the best style of cooking to render out the fat? Just to clarify, I don't have a health issue about it - I just hate the flavor of fat on pork (though I love bacon and sausage and the like).

Thanks!

Hello!
I'm making my grandma's cut-out cookies, which calls for 2 tablespoons orange zest. The problem is, I have an orange, but no way of making *zest* - my grater is kaput. So - can I substitute orange juice for zest? And if I do, should I adjust the amount?

Or, alternately, is there any way to make zest using a knife or other household object that's *not* a grater?

Thanks!

ETA: Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone, i've got a plan! :)

Every now and then I get the urge to make something cute. These little snowpeople were the result of just such an urge :) They're golden oreo truffles, decorated up and served on a platter with coconut "snow."

Had some issues throughout the recipe, so it took forever to finish, but after I saw how adorable the first one was, I couldn't given up!! They were very tasty; my boyfriend's already clamoring for more.



( recipes and photo )


To read more about this recipe and see more sweet snowpeople (including a college graduate snowman and my favorite exuberant snowman), please head over to my baking blog, Willow Bird Baking!

x-posted to food_porn, cooking, picturing_food

(snowman made by my daughter last year)

( FAUX gingerbread house, t-shirt, disembodied snowman heads... )

For my mum's birthday I embroidered her house and garden. She loved it! And I was quite proud of my first actual embroidery.

Also, made some monster toys for my bf's nieces and a knitted scarf (from fabric strips) for my mum.

( pics below )

Today, at the craft store, I bought a pack of white dishtowels to embroider/cross-stitch.

So, I'm looking for World of Warcraft embroidery patterns, or drawings that would easily translate to a pattern. This is definitely something I could do myself (and will be doing for myself), but I would love to see the different perspectives other players have on cool things from the game. Locations, buildings, maps, abilities, gear, items, just-for-fun gear and items, recipes, characters, mobs, NPCs of all sorts, symbols?

I'm a Tauren hunter, so I'm going to be looking at Tauren stuff and pet stuff, as well as the Horde symbol, but I'd love to see what you all come up with!

If you do WoW crafts (and I know some of you do), post them!

( Murlocs...cuter than you'd expect )

I recently got a new car (a B.A. Station Wagon, thank you) and I'm working on pimpin' it out, so to speak.
I checked the memories and I couldn't find anything specifically relating to it, so I was wondering:

What are some fairly cheap ways you've tricked out your rides?
haha. And I'm talking cute, awesome, funky, crafty ways you've made your vehicles your own.
Not just Wal*Mart seat covers and dice in the mirror.

  

A last minute handmade Christmas gift for a coworker.
Pattern purchased from Little Cotton Rabbits.

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me.

This offer does have some restrictions so please read:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for YOU & you are allowed to make requests (and I will try to honor them).
- It will be done before 2011.
- It might be cookies, a mix cd, a necklace, an original haiku, a scarf, who knows!
- You'll need to PM me your mailing address if you're one of the first 5.

In return, all you need to do is repost this on your LJ (or on here if you'd like - or even both if you're ambitious!) and offer to make 5 things for 5 other people.

Also, please PM me your addresses.