I’ve had several posts lately about gifts of food. Obviously I have more of a fondness for food than I have for Snuggies. Although…we could always give the gift of food…with a Snuggie. Hmm, I might be on to something there.
This week my father-in-law is here…Adam is hanging out while he gets in a few more days of work in before heading home for Christmas…plus my friend Shannen is here for a couple of days! I feel like making my food festive.
Out come the cookie cutters.
I just put them in a basket and left them on the counter so that they’re easy to grab (and so that I don’t have to sort through the Easter bunny and pumpkin cookie cutters every time I want to make a stocking shaped biscuit).
I’ll be making some of the same this week…plus I experimented cutting out star shaped Peanut Butter Honey Fudge.
It worked great. Except for the fact that Malachi was helping me cut out the stars. Then he went to go play and came back with hives all over his neck. We’ve been suspicious, but this confirmed to us that yes…he has an allergy to peanuts. Poor guy.
So, I experimented with Lindsey’s coconut oil/cocoa/honey fudge for Malachi. I’d been wanting to try it for a while and…YUM! It’s super good!
This fudge was a little gooey and therefore harder to cut into stars…so I left most of it as little squares. I love how healthy this fudge is!
Now…talking about fudge always makes me think about salad dressing.
Okay, not really. Talking about fudge always makes me think about fudge.
But now I’m going to talk about salad dressing.
Hey, I didn’t call this a random post for nothin’.
Anyway, I was putting together Anne’s stocking stuff which surprise, surprise consists largely this year of food. I made a jar of Ranch Dressing Mix and a jar of Italian Dressing Mix for her, which I know she will adore and appreciate.
I’ll attach a little card explaining how to make each of the dressings.
Okay, last but certainly not least because I am VERY excited to tell you this next piece of foody news! I finally took the time to create lists on each of my Recipe Pages containing each recipe in that particular category. This will make it SO MUCH EASIER for all of us to navigate and find the recipes on my site.
To understand what I’m talking about…go up to the menu bar across the top of my site. Put your cursor over the RECIPES link. See the drop down menu? Click on any one of those links…Main Dishes, Desserts, whatever. Scroll down on the page you click on and you’ll see a section called “Recipe Quick Click“. Under that you’ll see an entire list complete with links to EVERY RECIPE in that particular category. And it’s alphabetized.
I’ve been wanting to do that forever…but knew it would take forever to do. It did. It took me about four and a half hours to create those lists with links. But…WOW…is it easy to find Swiss Steak and Homemade Soft Pretzels and ANY recipe you want on my site. Hoorah!
So…have any random food news you’d like to share? Does talking about fudge also make you think of salad dressing?
Sharon says
I love, love, love the recipe quick click! Thanks for taking the time to do that.
Blessings,
Sharon
Jennifer S. says
Laura,
Thank you so much for taking the time to do the recipe quick click. I know that I will be using it a lot. :)
Shelly W. says
Lovin’ the new quick click! Thanks!
Lenetta @ Nettacow says
This actually is a random piece of food information – did you know that with the canning stuff (in most places), they sell plastic jar lids, so you don’t have to use rings and flats/lids on stuff like your dressing mix that don’t really need rings and flats/lids? Azure Standard probably sells them, too – I’ve not looked at their stuff in quite a while… I bought a box of regular and a box of wide mouth lids at WM this summer and have really enjoyed using them. It’s nice not to have to worry about the lid coming apart and getting salsa or jelly or whatever all over.
Sonja says
Woohoo on the quick links, I was really hoping that you would find time to do that. What a woman, to take her time to save us time… It is like it’s own little bloggy Christmas gift for the rest of us. Thanks!
Melissa says
Thanks for the Ranch recipe…my 2 year old has an egg allergy so ranch has been out of our house for awhile…now with a egg free mayo we can have ranch again! Sorry about the peanut allergy, we also have a peanut allergy. A word of warning, the allergist told us that peanut allergies are one of the worst you can have because with each exposure the reaction can get worse. For example, this time your little guy had hives next time he gets peanuts he could have trouble breathing. You may want to talk to your doctor about this they may want you to have an epi pen just to be safe.
Courtney says
Yay for the alphabetized recipe links list!! Thank you, thank you!
Ezzy says
That will defenitly make recipe searching easier. I just made up the ranch mix one. I like it. I am hoping to try some of the other ones.
Marry Christmas
Ezzy
(oh brother, spelling and I are not friends today)
Pam says
Thanks for taking the time to work on the links! I use your recipes all of the time. Just made your brownies this weekend.
Becki says
Thanks for the quick links! You will definitely be saving me the 4 and a half hours it took you in trying to find the recipe on your site that we were supposed to have for dinner! I appreciate the gift of extra time that you have given me!
Christine says
Sorry your son has a peanut allergy. I developed one a little over a year ago. Like Melissa said, you should get an epi-pen in case his allergy gets worse. My face swelled with my first reaction. My second reaction, my throat swelled. It’s scary, and I don’t want anything to happen to your little guy!
Also, be careful when washing dishes and when using kitchen tools for multiple recipes without washing, you can spread the peanuts to other dishes and cause him to have another reaction.
Sheila says
I so much enjoy your site. Thanks for making it even easier!
Our oldest has a peanut allergy and the reactions do get worse at each exposure. Definately get the epi pen and also Benedryl. They make a liquid that is packaged in individual doses so you can take it with you easily. Symptoms can be skin (rashes, hives, swelling), intestinal (throwing up), respiratory (trouble breathing).
We mostly have troubles with snack food and usually it’s at a church function (or something similar) where someone else made the food and we don’t have a label to read. Read labels and ask questions. People put peannut butter in all kinds of things. Some chocolate is even made with peanut oil!
This is a very serious allergy. Don’t stress but please, please, please be careful.
Jenny @ The Zepf Life says
A peanut allergy is serious stuff. My youngest daughter has one, along with eggs, dairy and treenuts, and you want to avoid exposure all together, not just treat it when he comes in contact with it. But you definately need an epi-pen.
We avoid peanuts as a family and do not bring it in the house. Any recipe that normally has peanut butter in it, I use soy or sun butter. The sun butter tastes much better.
Good luck.
Holly says
My random food new is…for Christmas my mother gave me and each of my sisters a pretty recipe box with recipe cards of many of our family recipes, including her best of show winning pecan pie, my great-grandmother’s carrot cake, and my father’s super-secret barbecue dry rub. Now I don’t have to call her every time I need a new recipe, like Grandma Dorothy’s pound cake, or Dabby’s jalapeno cheese dip!
Also, I am a new reader and just wanted to say how much I love your blog! Thanks for all the work you put into it, I’ve had so much fun reading your posts. I am a SAHM to one, and Lord willing there will be more than one in future. I do, and aspire to do even more, of the things you do, like preserving and making wholesome food and just plain good stuff for your family. If I can make one suggestion for the future, it would be please add the date to each post. When I’m scrolling through a whole page of posts, sometimes I’d like to know the dates. Or maybe that’s just my own idiosyncrasy.
Danielle says
I second the epi-pen. at least ALWAYS have Benadryl ON you. Cross contamination stinks… so always be mindful of that. Luckily you make most (if not all) of your foods from scratch, so you know what you are adding to your foods. Becareful if you are visiting anyone tho.
Rosalinda says
Th?nks for finally talking ab?ut > ?y Random Christmas Food Post |
Heavenly Homemakers ????????????