December Cookie Cutter Giveaway Winner

December Cookie Cutter Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Sharla for winning this month’s giveaway: Fred’s ABC* Cookie Cutters
*Already Been Chewed

Her entry: “What Child is This”.
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December Giveaway: Cookie Cutters

December Giveaway: Cookie Cutters

Now that I’ve completed The Ultimate Kitchen Gifts List, I figured I would give away one item from it. One of my favorite Christmas activities is making sugar cookies, so in honor of my favorite activity, I’m giving away Fred’s ABC (Already Been Chewed) Cookie Cutters. These cookie cutters are supposed to help people stay away from your cookies… but to me, a broken or ABC cookie is an invitation to snitch. To each their own, I suppose. However, if you looove cookies and your kids absolutely demand you leave some for Santa, making Santa’s cookies with these will almost guarantee there’ll be some left for you on Christmas morning.

This contest will run through Friday sometime (December 11th), and then I’ll ship them a.s.a.p to the random lucky winner.
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The Ultimate Kitchen Gifts List

The Ultimate Kitchen Gifts List

*Phew!* I can’t believe I finally completed “The Ultimate Kitchen Gift List”, which I hope will be an excellent holiday (and non-holiday) shopping guide for you; it’s also great for birthdays, Groundhog Days, national Be Nice to a Cook days (is there such a thing?), etc. etc. etc. What I’ve done is researched days on end for the ultimate, best kitchen gifts and gadgets that people all over are using and enjoying.

Here’s why you’ll want to use and should use “The Ultimate Kitchen Gift List”:

  1. I’ve done all the research for you, spending days reading customer reviews and finding the best products. I’m confident in this list, and you can be too.
  2. I didn’t use Consumer Reports. Sure, they’re handy, but in my opinion, when it comes to kitchen tools and stuff, it’s best to get the word straight from the horse’s mouth, so all of these products are rated at least 4 (most of them 4.5) stars out of 5 by those who use them, and not a test lab.
  3. I’ve tried to pick the best rated and most well-liked item for each price range in the specific category. This means you’ll find similar items in both less expensive and more expensive price ranges in this list. All you have to do is match your budget to the item.
  4. I have a receding hair line and ‘they’ say that guys with a receding hair line are smart… or at least try to be.
  5. Did I mention that you’ll save yourself gads of time by using this list?
  6. I’ve added pictures below each item group so you don’t have to click a link to see what the item is. I love picture books. The pictures are in the same order as the list above them. If in doubt, just hover your mouse’s cursor over the picture and a little tooltip will display with the picture’s title.

Items marked with an asterisk * are my personal favorites in each category. Items with brackets around the asterisk [*] are items that I personally own and love using.
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How to Make Pumpkin Seeds: Year 1

How to Make Pumpkin Seeds: Year 1

I know you’re all thinking it, so I’ll just come out and say it… “Chris, you’re about 3 to 4 weeks late on this post!” And at this point I begin to think of a good excuse… and realize I don’t have one. Oops. So as an extra bonus feature with this post I’m going to give you TWO recipes. That’s right, two for the price of two one; the truth is, I was going to give you two recipes in this post anyway.  Okay, confession time is over, and so is Halloween, and in here in Northern Utah,  so is the pumpkin harvest.  This probably means that most of you have either 1) already cooked up your pumpkin seeds, 2) thrown your pumpkin seeds away, or 3) left them in your fridge and they’re covered with a gooey white film and molding.  Gross. Don’t ask how I know about the white film.

I do know, however, that at different times of the year you can still buy bagged, uncooked pumpkin seeds in the grocery stores.  Yes!  A reason to still create this blog entry.  As always, a printable version is available at the bottom of the post. In today’s case, both pumpkin seed recipes are available.  Here we go.
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Fun St. Patrick’s Day Green Food Ideas

Whenver St. Patrick’s day rolls around, inevitably I start thinking of Dr. Seuss’s book, “Green Eggs and Ham.” I’ve always loved that book; Sam-I-am is hilarious trying to get the other guy to eat the colored food. I’m sure Dr. Seuss had feeding kids in mind when writing it. But just taste it! Okay, back to food coloring…I always start experimenting with food coloring around the holidays, and sometimes end up with some pretty weird stuff, luckily though, it’s always edible and the kids still eat it.

Seeing how today is Saint Patrick’s Day, I decided I’d write down some ideas for you to mix up your food routine. Keep in mind that the possibilities are endless. I’ve taken the time to just write out a few. Think GREEN with everything you make and you’re well on your way to a festive St. Patrick’s Day meal.
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