Browsing Tag

baking

General

Use Free Online Recipes

There is no longer any need to buy recipe books as you can find thousands of excellent recipes online for free.  My favorite website is allrecipes.com.  Whenever I think of something I want to make but I am not quite sure how, I simply enter in the dish in the search bar and within seconds a whole bunch of different recipes come up.  Most recipes also have reviews and comments that help you to select the one you think you will like the best.  So far everything I have made has turned out great.

Some of my favorite recipes that I have already tested from the site include:

Megan’s Granola  – It tastes really good.  I didn’t use pecans and I added some goji berries.  It’s great for breakfast and you don’t need to eat a lot to feel full.

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General

Ways To Make Great Food With Zucchini

A friend of ours recently gave us a giant zucchini.  I don’t have a lot of experience with zucchini, as I never buy it or grow it in my garden, but I didn’t want to waste it, and I know that zucchinis are great for using in all kinds of baking.  So I found all sorts of different recipes online and printed them off, determined to try at least a few of them.

The following Saturday I spent a good chunk of my day baking and cooking with, you guessed it, zucchini.  I found a great recipe for Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins from www.allrecipes.com and I made three dozen of them.  I then made a delicious Zucchini Loaf from a recipe I found on www.canadianliving.com.  I added chocolate chips to the loaf recipe to make it even better.  I am all about adding chocolate to almost everything I bake.

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Gifts

Easy Christmas Recipes – Great for Gifts & Christmas Parties

fun and easy Christmas recipesIt’s a lot of fun preparing for the Christmas season.  There’s always so much to do.  Parties to attend, gifts to buy, and more.  I want to share some of my favorite Christmas recipes with you.  They are fairly easy to make and they don’t cost a lot of money.  They are great for serving at parties and if you package up a variety of your baking, they make great gifts as well.  Invite a friend over to bake with and it will make your time even more enjoyable.  Sometimes it’s also fun to do a “bake swap”.  Each person involved bakes something different and then you arrange a meeting and exchange your baking.  That way you end up with a wide variety of goodies without making each kind yourself.  Happy baking!

Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine

1 ½ cups icing sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp almond extract

2 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

Mix the ingredients together and knead the dough into a ball.  Cool the dough in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours and then roll the dough out with a rolling pin and cut the cookies into various shapes with Christmas cookie cutters.  Sprinkle red and green colored sugar on top of your cookies to make them more festive.  Bake at 325 F for 5-7 minutes.

Short Bread

¾ cup butter

½ cup sugar

2 cups flour

Mix the ingredients together and knead the dough into a ball.  Cool the dough in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.  Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough and cut into shapes using cookie cutters.  Sprinkle the tops with colored sugar or with small pieces of maraschino cherries.  Bake at 325 F for 4-6 minutes.

Fantastic Fudge

4 ½ cups sugar

1 can evaporated milk

½ lb margarine

3 cups chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together the sugar and evaporated milk in a heavy pot.  Boil for exactly 7 minutes.  Add vanilla and then dump in the margarine and chocolate chips.  Mix thoroughly and spread the fudge into a 9 x 13 inch cake pan.  Let it cool in the fridge until it sets and then cut it into squares.  Keep unused portions in the fridge.

Money Saving Tips

Save Money & Bake Your Own Cookies

save money and bake your own cookiesHave you ever noticed how the cookies you buy in grocery stores are not only expensive, but they aren’t nearly as good as homemade?  Why not try baking your own instead?  They are not as expensive and it doesn’t take that much of your time.

I have a weakness for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.  So, once in a while I make them and it takes less than 10 minutes to mix the ingredients together to make the dough.  The next step is to form balls and place them on cookie sheets.  Flatten them with a fork and bake them in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 7 minutes.  All it takes is about a half hour of your time and you can enjoy freshly baked delicious cookies.  I’ve found they make a great snack for work when you are craving a chocolate bar.   Freshly baked cookies also make a great gift for a neighbor or friend!

In case you want to try out the recipe, here it is:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

½ cup butter or margarine

½ cup peanut butter

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 ½ cups flour

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

For more recipe ideas, no need to purchase a recipe book, just do a Google search for the type of recipes you are looking for and you can find all kinds of ideas for free.  Print out the ones you like and make your own recipe book.