Favorite Homemade Christmas Gifts From the Kitchen

Its beginning to look alot like Christmas!!!

One of my most fav homeade Christmas gifts to make are homemade Kalua, and homemade Baileys to give out! Everyone just raves about getting them especially since in Cnada they are over 35$ a bottle to purchase!

Here are my 2 favorite recipes, but there are many to try over the internet!

Here is my handmade Kalua Recipe:

Simmer the following 3 items until it turns slightly syrupy about 20 minutes

 1 cup instant coffee(not decaf)

3 c.sugar

6 cups water

Remove from heat & Add:

 4 Tablespoons Real Vanilla

When cool stir in 750ml vodka

Pour into Sterile glass bottles for gift giving. I save real kalua bottles for reusing!

This recipe makes 3 bottles aprox, and is a large batch. You can cut in in half for less if you like.

 

Here is my Mock  Baileys Recipe:

The crazy part is its soooooooooooooooooo easy!!!!!
In a clean sterile blender, mix:

2 c. Creamo or Real whipping Cream(not light)
2 can condensed milk
2 tea instant coffee(not decaf)
4-5 T choclate syrup
2 1/2 tea real vanilla extract
2 tea almond extract
3 1/2 cups irish whisky
 Bleand on high for a about a minute and pour into dark bottles. Must be refrigerated. Lasts about 2 months in fridge.

Also love this great idea from Domino sugar:
Cake in a mug recipe & tags!

and tags:

http://www.dominosugar.com/giftideas/pdf/ChocCakeInMug-Gift-Tag.pdf


and they have other cute ideas:

like this pecan cookie mix in a jar!

And check out this easy microwave fudge from Taste of Home here:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Microwave-Marshmallow-Fudge

Have fun!

xox

 

The Big Cook

I had the opportunity to have a really fun night with a friend at the same time filling up the freezer!

 By the time I get home from work I'm so tired my brain can't even think of what to make for dinner, let alone search the cupboards for ingredients!  There are so many wonderful recipes out there online, but i need to really meal plan in order to make much! I live out of town too, so when its time to shop its usually a big one or the fridge is empty!

Have you ever heard of the big cook?

Wow, is all I can say! Depending on how big your freezer is you can prepare & freeze from 4-50meals in one night!! My friend Nicole & I created 25 meals each , filled up our freezers,drank some brown cows and had a blast!! She had the book, i picked my favorite recipes and we went to town!

Sorry about the dark pictures, but hey-we started at 7:00 and had 50 meals made by 11:00pm!

Check out the amount of cheese we grated and veggies we chopped!

We chopped 6 bundles of celery, opened over 40 cans of food (and washed them for recycling)

and grated over 10 pounds of cheese!

What we ended up with was so worth it! I cant believe how it all came together in the end!

Every recipe goes in a freezer bag and into the freezer in a cardboard box all neatly organized for easy access,once its thawed it goes either in a casserole dish, or crock pot & walla!!

All you need are some plain old side dishes like rice,buns,salad,etc...too easy!

Images courtesy of the Big cook recipe site!

 Later I will post the  total of one months worth of dinner meals and how much it cost to make this with some price breakdowns.  Remeber some night you can eat leftover, as well as lunches! What company is coming over-no worries pull out 2 bags!

What a relief!

xoxo