I love to give food gifts, little decadent treats for friends and neighbors.  One of my favorites to make and give is compound butter.  This is butter flavored with a sweet or savory element which makes a great topper for bread, sometimes vegetables and even meat.  These are easy and fun recipes which kids can assist in making for gift giving to grandparents or aunts and uncles or other special people.  Who wouldn’t want to add an extra special touch to Valentine’s Day meals?  Making compound butters is easy, and I have included some ideas and recipes below.  For a quick visual tutorial and how to form logs, ...

Tags: Valentine's Day, butter, gifts

Scrambling for last-minute gift for a guy? I have suggestion. First of all there’s this. I kid. I mean, guys are hard to buy for but seriously? I could not give this to anyone without totally cracking up. Instead, consider this....

Tags: wine opener, fast food, gifts

Are you like me, and you dread selecting holiday gifts for other people?  I enjoy buying and wrapping and giving gifts, but I find that I sometimes second guess myself and, in the process, drive my husband crazy.  He is the type of shopper who sees something, thinks that it might be a good gift and buys it on the spot.  I, on the other hand, feel a need to shop around to find an improved version or better price.  When it comes to buying gifts, I can’t help but be a little biased.  Being a cookbook author, I love all things related to food and I assume everyone else does too!  That’s why I love to buy food related things for every occasion....

Tags: holiday, cooking, children, cookie mixes, gifts, presents

I spent Saturday afternoon with a few friends over at A.C.’s mother-in-law’s house baking cookies. Amy made Spritz, I made Caramels and A.C.’s mother-in-law,...

Tags: caramels, gifts, holidays