4 Ways to Make Your Own Personalized Gifts

Anyone can go to the store and pick up a gift for someone, but to me one of the best gifts you can give is one that you’ve made or at least had personalized.? I cook so most of my gifts are creations from the kitchen and I personalize them with little stickers that say who they are to and from.? I sometimes try to find pretty bowls, glasses or dishes that has at least the person’s last initial engraved on.? But there are many other ways to personalize the perfect gift even if you don’t…

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4 Ways to Make Your Own Personalized Gifts

Landslide Cake

A REAL FLOP!? As I’ve said before… “if you cook, you are going to have flops now and then.”? But you learn from those “flops.”? The cake in this picture was a “flop” to me.? I made it to serve to my Sunday Morning Coffee group and would have thrown it in the trash if there had been time to make something else.? Then I decided to go ahead and serve it telling them upfront it was a “flop.”? They actually loved it and one even came up with the name Landslide Cake.? So, here is the recipe and a way to actually fix the problem of it falling apart. 1 butter pecan cake mix 4 eggs 1 cup water 3/4 cup cooking oil 1/2 cup chopped nuts 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped 1 container of Caramel Icing Preheat oven to 350 degrees.? Mix cake mix, eggs, water and oil until well blended.? Fold in apples and nuts.? Pour into 13 x 9″ baking dish.? Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.? Ice while still warm. These are the change s I made.? #1 – my apples were too large.? They need to be chopped really small.? #2 – the nuts were too large.? They needed to be chopped fairly small.? #3 – I used a Bundt pan and since I wanted to ice while the cake was warm, taking it out of the pan was a problem.? The size of the apples and nuts made most of them settle at the bottom of the cake causing it to start cracking as it came out of the Bundt pan.? Solution – use a flat pan like the 13 x 9″ and don’t take it out.? Use it to serve your cake from.? Another problem with it becoming a “Landslide Cake” was the weight of the icing.? With the cake still being hot, the weight of the icing made it fall apart even more.? BUT… the taste is great.? So, make it in a flat pan and ice it while warm without removing it from the pan.? End of problems.

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Landslide Cake

Chicken Cooking Tips

? Breast meat is the leanest part of the bird with less than half the fat of thigh meat.?? Forty percent of the fat is attached to the skin so unless you are broiling, baking or grilling, remove the skin.? If you are broiling, baking or grilling, leave the skin on until you’ve finished cooking so the meat will retain it’s moisture and not be tough.? Save calories by roasting, broiling, poaching or grilling chicken instead of frying.? Use fresh lemon or lime juice, wine or vinegar in marinades instead of fats and oils.? You can even broil in wine instead of butter.? Use non-caloric pan sprays instead of oil. If you’re really counting every single calorie, you may want to choose Cornish hens rather than the older broilers and roasters.? Cornish hens and broilers are young birds and they bear the same relationship to the older roasters that veal does to beef: the younger the animal, the lower the fat content. For comparison, the white meat of a Cornish is 35 calories per ounce of cooked meat; the white meat of a broiler is 45 calories per cooked ounce.

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Chicken Cooking Tips

Oven Cleaning

When I was in the market for a new stove I decided I wanted one that was self cleaning.? I thought how great it would be to not have to ever clean the oven again.? Well, I should have done my homework.? It is simple but it’s a job that takes hours to do.? I mean like 5 hrs! The temperature inside the oven gets so hot that anything which may have spilled while baking is completely cremated and turned into dust.? I’ve gone through this process twice in the 5 years that I’ve owned my stove.? Oh, I want my oven clean but I’ve found a really easy way to do it without using so much electricity. To remove grease from inside your oven, put a small pan of ammonia in the oven in the evening, and then close the oven door. In the morning, remove the pan of ammonia. The grease inside the oven will wipe off very easily. This works wonderfully.? I open the oven door and let the odor escape before wiping out my oven and this process takes about 15 minutes to do and I don’t heat up the kitchen with that 800 degree self cleaning method.

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Oven Cleaning

Crossini Nonstick French Fry Baking Sheet – Chefs Catalog

? Foodbuzz Daily Special Innovative thermal base with perforated ridges enables heat to circulate around French fries for all-over browning and crispy golden results. Crossini nonstick baking sheet bakes any breaded food in the oven to a deliciously light crispy texture without frying in oil: fish sticks and fillets, shrimp tempura, chicken sticks or wings. Use this perforated pan to make healthy homemade potato chips, croutons or seasoned breadcrumbs, and easily roast vegetables, nuts and seeds without turning. End chute slides food directly onto a platter for ease in serving. Nonstick-coated steel with black exterior absorbs heat for reduced cooking times and allows quick release. Wide rim allows ease handling in and out of the oven. Oven safe up to 500 degrees F. Designed by Kaiser, leading German manufacturer of bakeware for more than 150 years. Hand wash. Product Features • Thermal base with perforated ridges enables heat to circulate around French fries for all-over browning and crispy golden results • Healthy way to prepare any breaded, frozen food without frying in oil: fish sticks and fillets, shrimp tempura, chicken sticks or wings • Bake frozen or homemade breaded appetizers, potato chips, croutons • Roast nuts, vegetables or seeds without turning • End chute slides baked food directly onto a platter for ease in serving • Nonstick-coated steel with black exterior absorbs heat for reduced cooking times and allows quick release of foods for easy serving and cleanup • Wide rim for ease in handling

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Crossini Nonstick French Fry Baking Sheet – Chefs Catalog

Pecan Fudge Pie

This is another wonderful dish from my Think With Your Taste Buds – Desserts Co-Author, Lillian. I made 2 of these pies but made a change in both. By thinking with my taste buds I decided to use up a couple of ingredients that needed to be used. One was some large flake coconut, the other was a partial jar of dried peanuts. I also had some chocolate chips that needed to be used but not enough for 2 pies. This is what I did. The recipe calls for 3 squares of chocolate, I used 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and a cup of peanuts one pie. I had about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips left so I made up the difference using white chocolate chips and added a cup of coconut instead of the nuts. I’m not a chocolate lover but I have to say that both of these pies came out making even me want more. I did find that this makes just a bit more than 1 pie filling so I poured the leftover in a small baking dish that I lined with vanilla wafers and baked it along with the full size pie, checking it after about 20 minutes. The pie on the top is coconut, the one on the bottom is peanut.? View the full recipe by going to Martha’s Kitchen Korner.

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Pecan Fudge Pie

Kitchen Cleaning Tips

If you use baking soda to keep your refrigerator smelling fresh, instead of throwing it in the trash when replaced, pour it down the kitchen drain along with 1 cup of white vinegar for a fresh smelling and clear flowing drain. ? Lemon juice will clean your brass when you add a little salt.? Rub it on, rinse and dry.? You can also clean your counters with a paste of lemon juice and cream of tartar.? ? Freshen and deodorize your garbage disposal by running citrus peels through it.

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Kitchen Cleaning Tips

Angel Hair Shrimp

I originally found two recipes for shrimp with sauce. One was served over Angel Hair, the other was served on it’s own. I didn’t like some of the ingredients in the Angel Hair recipe and I didn’t like some of the recipes in the other recipe. So I decided to Think With My Taste Buds and pulled the ingredients I liked in each and combined them coming up with the above recipe. I did use store bought, pre-cooked and cleaned shrimp which cut the time for making this dish down to just a few minutes. I used fresh basil from my window garden but you can use dried but cut the amount in half. The half & half made the sauce so rich and creamy. I think the only change I would make to this would be to pour everything into a baking dish, top with a few panko bread crumbs and bake until hot. You could add a little cheese but this is really good as it is. View the full recipe by going to Martha’s Kitchen Korner.

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Angel Hair Shrimp

Baked Baked Potatoes

2 baking potatoes butter cheese sour cream bacon, cooked chives Preheat oven to 400 degrees.? I bake my potatoes in the microwave.? I wash them, punch holes in both ends and several going around the potatoes.? Put them on a paper plate.? Cover them with a very wet paper towel and microwave about 20 minutes, checking them after about 15 minutes.? After the potatoes are cooked, cut them into 4ths and place them in a baking dish sprayed with non stick spray.? Top with butter, sprinkle with cheese, dot with sour cream, add crumbled bacon, and add chives.? Bake until hot and cheese is melted. This idea started with a recipe I found using baked potatoes, topped with instant mashed potatoes, cheese and bacon.? I changed it to the above and it sure is good.

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Baked Baked Potatoes

Ricotta Pancakes with Strawberries and Syrup

So I woke up bright and early this morning as seems to be my M.O. lately and pulled some bacon out of the freezer.? My thought was that I would make breakfast sandwiches when everyone woke up.? This was one of those lazy Sunday mornings that I NEVER seem to get and I was just planning on enjoying it.? The girl’s woke up and crawled into bed with us (I was reading and Tony was still sleeping).? Dogs climbed in and it got way too crowded for me so I got up to tackle breakfast… That’s when the plans all changed.? I wanted something fresh and light.? After the requisite 5 minutes of standing in front of my fridge wondering what to do (I know you do it too…), my plan came to me! Light and Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes with Strawberries and Strawberry Syrup (adapted recipe from the kitchn) Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes makes 8 1 cup ricotta cheese 3/4 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar pinch salt 3/4 cup milk 3 eggs, divided 1/2 teaspoon vanilla Set ricotta in a fine mesh strainer about 30 minutes before you start cooking, to drain off excess liquid. We used fresh ricotta from Whole Foods that was pretty dry. If you are using a commercial brand that’s runny, you may want to drain it longer (or make your own ). Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Combine ricotta, milk, egg yolks, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Beat the egg whites in an electric mixer until stiff. Add the dry ingredients to the ricotta and milk mixture, stirring gently until just combined. Whisk in a small amount of the egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining whites. Heat a griddle over medium-high heat, and brush the surface with butter. Use a ladle or measuring scoop (we used a 1/3 cup measure) to pour batter onto the griddle. Cook pancakes for about 3 or 4 minutes, then flip, cooking until both sides are golden brown. Changes I made:? Less sugar. I was making syrup and strawberries for these so I reduced the sugar to 1 1/2 tsp. Did not brush the griddle with butter.? I cooked them without any oil or fat and they turned out beautifully. For the topping all I did was slice up some strawberries and add some sugar to them and let them sit.? How much sugar?? Not sure so just do it to taste (if you want them sweeter add more…). The syrup I “made” was just a jar of Smucker’s Simply Fruit Seedless Strawberry micro waved for about 40 seconds until it was a syrup like consistency! ***The pancakes on their own are 6 Weight Watchers points add your topping to it and total it out for a total point value. You may have noticed that it’s been a long while since I last posted.? I am really working hard to change this!? I spent an incredibly busy month doing things for BMX.? We travelled one weekend out of the past month but had another weekend of clinics and then the State Championship in which Kyra is now ranked 8th for 9 year old rookies in the state of FL .? I was just totally uninspired in my cooking through all of this and really didn’t think you would want to see the sandwiches that we were sometimes forced to eat

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Ricotta Pancakes with Strawberries and Syrup

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