Number One Most Requested Delicious Dessert–Raspberry White Chocolate Dream Bars

1 box white cake mix

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1-1/2 sticks melted butter

1 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

12 oz. white chocolate chips

Combine cake mix, milk, butter and nuts. Makes a very gooey dough. Spray a 9 x 13 pan and spread half of the dough into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Melt the jam in the microwave (about a minute) and spread on top of hot crust. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over jam. Crumble remaining dough on top and bake an additional 20-25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

For bigger parties, this recipe easily doubles and can be made in a 15 x 10 pan.

Once you get the hang of this technique, you can think of all sorts of combinations. How about using chocolate cake with mint chips? Or lemon cake with white chocolate?

Number Two Most Requested Delicious Dessert–Chocolate Amaretto Bundt Cake

1 pkg. chocolate devil’s food cake mix

1 small pkg. instant chocolate pudding mix

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1-1/2 oz. Amaretto liqueur

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup fresh raspberries (optional)

1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam (optional)

Whipped cream (optional)

Glaze

1 stick butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup Amaretto

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine first 6 ingredients and blend well. Stir in chips. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

Melt glaze ingredients in a saucepan or microwave. Pour 2/3 of glaze over top of cake while cake is hot from oven and still in pan. Allow cake to remain in pan for 25 minutes. Remove cake from pan and drizzle with remaining glaze.

When I make this cake dessert, I fill the middle with fresh raspberries and present it on my grandmother’s crystal pedestal cake stand which is very dramatic.

Just before serving, I make a raspberry sauce by melting the jam in the microwave.

Each lucky guest gets a plate with some of the sauce, a slice of cake, a few berries and some whipped cream. Yum!

Number Three Most Requested Delicious Dessert–Mystic Mint Cookies

These are melt-in-your-mouth heaven!

Dough

1 cup sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 squares (1 oz. each) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix sugar, butter, vanilla, egg and unsweetened chocolate. Stir in flour and salt.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie with fingertips. Bake until set, about 8 minutes. Remove to cooling racks and cool completely.

Peppermint Frosting

2-1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, softened

3 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Mix all frosting ingredients until smooth and of spreading consistency.

Chocolate Drizzle

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, softened

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1-6 oz. package semisweet chocolate chips

Simmer all drizzle ingredients over low heat. Stir constantly until butter and chocolate are melted.

Spread peppermint frosting over cooled cookies then drizzle each with chocolate mixture. Leave on counter for 2-3 hours until frosting is set.

If you serve any of these homemade desserts, you can count on your guests being very happy. And I will bet that you will be handing out recipes, just like I do at my house.

War broke out during his last year of school and before long, he found himself crossing the blue African skies as a fighter pilot. Sharing a bungalow with 29 RAFs, English became like a mother tongue. He met his wife during the war. An Irish girl with long, pitch-black hair and eyes that reminded him of the blue skies where he served his country. It was love at first sight and they got married while the war was still on. At first her non church-going Catholic parents merely tolerated their new son-in-law who was to be a preacher in a Protestant domination, and his staunch Afrikaner parents rebelled against the new Irish-Catholic daughter-in-law. But love conquers all, and finally the families made peace and accepted each other.

It was only after the war that he went to university to study Theology, and he did so in faith. His father was a poor farmer who could not afford to send his four sons to university, but he brought them up in the ways of the Lord, and the preacher knew where to find his resources. So did his three brothers, and God provided well for them all and they were never short of anything – The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want – and the bills got paid……. month after month after month…………

While still at university, his wife gave birth to a stillborn boy, and a year later to a little girl who was sickly at first, but the angels did babysitting while the couple was busy with their required daily activities…………

His first calling was back to the rigid, callous Bushman-land with its ruthless sun and its need of sheltering shadows He worked hard and was always supported by his wife, who could by then speak Afrikaans. But time marched on and the years tinted their once dark hair a soft silvery colour. The moon shines with gentle compassion on those who tasted life to the fullest. A few more callings took him through the Karoo, Namibia and back to where he is now serving the Lord on the High Veld.

Saturday afternoons allow for time alone in his study while preparing for the Sunday sermons. The windows are open and he takes pleasure in the variety of bird songs that come to him in a hundred different harmonies. Songs written by the Good Lord Himself……… His eyes pan over the private collection of over four thousand books. They have become his best friends, his intimate friends. The grand old Emboya desk with matching swivel chair was a birthday present from his wife. Not long now, and she will bring their 4 o’clock coffee with homemade chocolate-chip cookies on a neatly decorated tray. Saturday afternoon ritual of two gray-winged doves…..

Within five years’ time he will retire, something for which they started preparing many years ago. Together they dream of a cute two-bedroom, two-bathroom cottage by the sea, with a spacious open plan kitchen-living room area. Only their favorite furniture will be send down, and only one car will be kept. The Stinkwood lounge suite that was a grand investment some 30 years ago, and grandma’s bone China tea-set which she inherited. Her own Royal Albert set, and as many of his leather-bound books as they can fit in……. The West coast of so many of their dreams where they will walk long summer walks during early evenings. Where they will have time to listen to Mozart’s piano concertos and the operas of Pucinni. Where she will have enough time to paint again, and he will write poetry and a long promised autobiography.

And time will be time, caught in the hourglass, and locked up for all eternities to come.

Now, finding girlfriend gift ideas for her shouldn’t be too hard, because there are countless kitchen gadgets around that do all kinds of things like, chopping, mixing, frying, grilling and baking. Your real challenge is to narrow your choices down to a few good items that you know she’ll really like. You can either get her a gift that helps her fix food in the kitchen, or, you can get her something delicious to eat.

If you want to focus on getting her a helpful kitchen item, then go into her kitchen and take a look around to see what items she already has. A quick chopper would be a nice gift, but maybe she already has one or more. If she has a nice mixer or blender, then you can scratch that off your list. If she drinks coffee, see if she has a coffee maker – if so, check to see if it looks old and tired. Check the condition of her mixing bowls and cooking utensils. These could be replaced with brand shiny new ones. Maybe she would appreciate a new casserole dish set.

If you want to focus on a food gift, then you probably already have an idea of what she likes to eat. If she enjoys eating seafood, steak, chicken, soul food, Italian, French, Asian or any style American food, you can arrange to take her out for an evening of fine dining. Or, you can order specialty food items from an online vendor and both of you can enjoy eating it at home.

If she loves sweets, there are delicious items like: chocolate assortments, specialty cakes, cookies and even a box of nostalgia candy. You could order a food gift basket online, or be adventurous and make your own food gift basket. Go to a department store, or craft store, and purchase a basket or nice looking box, get some colorful ribbon, then go grocery shopping for lots of treats you know she loves.

Here are a few more gift suggestions:

Ice Cream Maker – it used to be so much hassle making homemade ice cream, but today’s electric ice cream makers are so easy to use that all you need to do is add the ingredients and push a button.

Sandwich Press – she can make all kinds of hot, grilled sandwiches using ingredients like cheese, turkey, beef, tuna, onions and peppers with an electric sandwich maker. It’s fast and easy to use.

Bread Maker – many home cooks can now easily enjoy the taste of freshly made bread with a home bread making machine. You simply add the ingredients and turn on the machine. It does all the work of kneading and baking.

Electric Grill – she can enjoy healthier meals in minutes with a top quality electric grill. Plug it in and grill up chicken, fish, burgers and lots of other favorites. Make sure you get a brand that is easy to clean.

Beaded Christmas ornaments are a creative and easy way to add a personal touch to your Christmas tree. Beaded Christmas ornaments are nice, and some of the vintage Christmas ornaments on sale recently are quite wonderful to look at, but for me the crucial matter in Christmas tree and other decorations is to be creative, and to create something that reflects my personality in some way.

For me, beaded Christmas ornaments achieve this.

Christmas decorations help you honor the things that matter you to most: your friends and family. Also, Christmas ornaments can produce a amusing craft activity for the everyone.

My brother is a pretty decent carpenter, or at least he was when he was at school, so I also decided to try a wooden Christmas decoration, with a little help! When I was done, it looked reasonable.

The earliest unique Christmas ornament I ever had was hand made. It was a wonderful pewter photo frame hanging from a silver hook. I was very impressed by the way it hung on the Christmas tree. It was a labor of love from my mom, after all, and I like to always display it to recall my love for her.

Whether you prefer beaded Christmas ornaments, wooden handmade Christmas ornaments, or something from a store, don’t overlook utilizing personalization into your Christmas ornaments this year.

You may be surprised by how greatly pesonalized Christmas ornaments add to your Christmas festivities!

My sister creates ornaments out of common household items. She is great with arty things, and finds a lot of simple ways to develop ornamental items of things that would otherwise be thrown out. You could utilize tin foil, papier mache, glitter, tinsel, crepe paper, and popsicle sticks. They’re all well suited to designing beaded Christmas ornaments out of. You could even bake some little cookie treats, or homemade chocolates, wrap them creatively, with names written on them, and hang them on the Christmas tree.

With some color and a lot of imagination, you can develop lovely personalized Christmas ornaments that are perfect to be given as personalized Christmas gifts.

In this article read about some of the ways families across America celebrate Christmas.

Christmas tradition #1:

Christmas tradition #2:

Christmas tradition #3:

Christmas tradition #4:

Christmas tradition #5:

Christmas tradition #6:

Christmas tradition #7:

These are just some of the ways we can participate in the joy and hope of the Christmas season.  Through our traditions we teach our children a small lesson in life of why Christ was born and how he would have us to treat one another – with love and kindness.

Source:  O’Connell M. Get wrapped up in family traditions this Christmas. U.S. Catholic [serial online]. December 2000;65(4):29. Available from: MAS Ultra – School Edition, Ipswich, MA. Accessed August 12, 2008.

Traditionally Jordan Almonds have been the everlasting wedding favor.  Typically, the sugarcoated almonds are presented in sets of three or five.  Thee almonds are said to stand for the bride, groom, and the future baby.  The five almonds symbolize happiness, health, wealth, fertility, and longevity.  The bittersweet candies are rich in both taste and cultural meaning.  They are commonly found in the oldest of cultures, Italian, Middle Eastern, and Greek weddings.

If Jordan Almonds aren’t your style, other wedding favors that never go out of style are available to give you more ideas.  The following traditional wedding favors can be incorporated into brand new ideas:

Giving silver plated favors has always been part of wedding traditions.  Silver frames can be used as place card holders with pictures of the happy couple to take home for your wedding guests.

Silver Plated Salt and Pepper Shakers are a classic favor that shows the couple to be a perfect pair.  Put a twist to it and give out silver Perfect “Pear” Salt and Pepper Shakers.  This way a classic silver wedding favor idea is give a modern touch while adding a sweet “Perfect Pair” theme to your wedding.

Home made candles have traditionally been a nice touch.  Now couples can find beautiful decorative candles in their wedding theme to select from.  Available are all sorts of candles favors, such as Perfect Pear Candle Favors and Cinderella Carriage Candles.

Edible Favors are always a favorite among brides.  They are yummy and easy to do.  Chocolate coins in gold foil are an old edible wedding favor.  Why not give elegant truffles in bon bon favor boxes as a refreshing change to chocolate wedding favors.

Small jelly jars have been a tradition, which now has been taken over by miniature personalized honey jars.  From this tradition have come ideas of personalized tea and coffee wedding favors among the edible wedding favors.

Homemade cookies have been a quaint wedding favor in the past.  Currently the trend is designer wedding cookie favors that can be made to fit the theme of your wedding.

Sachets in your wedding colors make an elegant and lasting wedding favors.  Select from miniature sachets for the budget minded or larger scented sachet favors in gift boxes if you wan to splurge.  Sachet favors also make great bridal shower favors.

Flowers have always been a significant part of weddings and now they are used as part of the wedding favor as well.  Hawaiian leis or flower buds are a sweet touch to the wedding reception.  Make the memory everlasting by giving out flower seed favors in a personalized packet.  Use a miniature flower vase with a place card holder to guide your guest to their seats at your reception table.

Keepsake bookmarks with verse also make classic wedding favors that your guest can cherish.  Currently there are available silver plated or chrome bookmark favors in a variety of designs to fit wedding themes and styles.  A romantic idea is chrome heart bookmark favors gift boxed for your convenience.

A new tradition that has become a classic is the idea of donations to charity.  Instead of an expensive wedding favor, give a dollar amount in the name of every guest to your favorite charity.  Then at the reception, place a little card with a small token stating that a donation has been made in their name.  A small and inexpensive wedding favor is appropriate with this gesture. 

Traditional wedding favor ideas will make a classic impression on your guest.  With the current conveniences of the wedding favor industry you can twist that traditional idea to make it your own.  Wedding favor specialists like Chic Wedding Favors make it easy to find unique favors that fit the traditional ideals for wedding favors.