Christmas Gift Ideas

Christmas is around the corner, and finding just the right gift for a friend, neighbor, or coworker isn’t always an easy task. So I thought I’d share a few Christmas gift ideas in the event that you’d like to give a gift of homemade food this year, which I think many people appreciate. And given the state of our economy right now, if you’re like me, you may be looking for ways to show that you care without spending a lot of money.

The items below can all be made from recipes on my blog. I’ve chosen these because they are all delicious and can be made with relative ease. Also, once you’ve made one of these items, all you need to do to make it festive is to wrap it in a cellophane bag and tie it with a beautiful holiday ribbon. You can also include a copy of the recipes along with a personal card.

Candy/Snacks
Cinnamon-Roasted Almonds
Caramel Popcorn
Uncle Antone and Aunt Gretta’s Easy Candy Popcorn

Cookies/Cookie Dough
French Swiss Cookies
Aunt Joan’s Toffee Squares
Frosted Lemon Butter Cookies
(I’ve got a lot more cookie recipes to add to my blog. I’ll try and get around to that task soon.)

With either of the recipes below, you could give a roll of cookie dough, along with the baking directions, so that the recipient could make these cookies at their leisure, perhaps after the flurry of holiday treats has passed.
Oatmeal Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies

Breads
Banana Bread
Applesauce Nut Bread
Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bread

Dill Bread
No-Knead Bread (you could include a small jar of honey or jam with a loaf of this bread)

Salad Dressing
I think many people would love a jar of homemade salad dressing for the holidays. It would certainly be a more unusual gift. Also, you could turn these into a larger gift by combining them with other items. For example, you could give the bleu cheese dressing with some beautiful pears. Or you could give a “salad basket” to a friend, including salad dressing, greens, fruit, pine nuts, etc)
Bleu Cheese Salad Dressing
Homespun German Salad Dressing

Soups
Granted, you can’t put soup in a cellophane bag very well, but a jar or other decorative container might work. It doesn’t have to be an entire pot of soup. Just enough for a serving or two. The idea is simply to show someone that you are thinking of them. And why not give something that isn’t sweet during the holidays, something that could help make a meal during the sometimes hectic Christmas season?
Butternut Squash Soup
Taco Soup
Carrot Chowder
Easy White Bean Soup
Chicken Chili

HAPPY HOLIDAY GIVING!

No-Knead Bread

This is the best recipe I've run across in a long time! Delicious crusty French bread that I can make! My friend Mary led me to recipe, and I think that this is going to be my go-to bread recipe from now on. This is so simple that "even a six-year-old could do it," as they say in the video (okay, maybe you wouldn't want to let a six-year-old work with a 450 degree oven, but the recipe is that easy). And you only need four ingredients. In any case, the end result is terrific! It does require quite a bit of time to rise, but you can put this dough together in minutes and then leave it alone to do its work. It's probably best to make the dough the day before.

In the near future, I'll experiment with wheat flour and other supplemental ingredients. But I feel like I'm definitely on to something with this recipe.

Fore more info, read this article or watch this video that depicts the process.

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1 1/2 hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed (I just used flour since I didn't have either of these)

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1 1/2-pound loaf.

Lemon Bundt Cake

This recipe comes from my friend Kathy, who also has a recipe blog. I made this cake for another friend's birthday last week, and it was a hit. This cake is moist and lemony, and it looks quite attractive.

1 box Betty Crocker or Pillsbury lemon cake mix
1 3-ounce box instant lemon pudding
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
Juice of one lemon
Zest of one lemon
1/2 cup oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly grease and flour a bundt pan. Mix all ingredients and pour into the pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool ten minutes, then invert the pan to release the cake.

Lemon Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup lemon juice
Mix sugar and lemon juice with electric mixer. Pour over cake while it is still hot so that a lovely lemon crust will form. Hint: It is much easier to do this if the cake is on a wire rack with foil or wax paper underneath to catch the drippings.

Note: This cake can be frozen for up to a month.

Mushroom Chicken

I don't usually like to include recipes without measurements, but that's how this recipe came to me, and I haven't taken the time yet to get the proportions just right. Instead, I simply estimate the amount of each ingredient and go from there. But this is a dish I make quite frequently.

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
Flour
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Butter
Lemon juice
Mushrooms, sliced
Heavy cream
Parmesan cheese, shredded
Parsley, chopped finely

Pound out chicken breasts with a meat mallet until thin. Combine flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and coat chicken breasts in this mixture. Fry coated breasts in butter and sprinkle both sides very lightly with lemon juice. Then put chicken breasts in a casserole dish (chicken should be in a single layer, not stacked up).

Saute sliced mushrooms in the meat drippings, or use butter if necessary. Cook until soft. Put sauteed mushrooms on top of cooked chicken breasts and pour cream over the top. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes. About five minutes before chicken is fully heated, sprinkle shredded Parmesan cheese over the top and finish cooking. Once the casserole dish is removed from the oven, garnish the top with chopped parsley.

Beef Stroganoff

I'm not positive, but I believe that this recipe comes from my late Aunt Donna Fae Wheeler (my dad's sister). Stroganoff is definitely comfort food to me.

1 pound ground beef
3/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper

Mix and form into little balls. Brown in a little shortening. Remove from pan.

To brown bits in pan add:
4 tablespoons minced onion
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 can mushroom soup
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons ketchup

Add meatballs and simmer 5 minutes. Blend in 1/2 cup sour cream. Serve over noodles or rice.

*Note: I often prefer to use strips of cooked steak in this recipe rather than meatballs. The steak is easier and quicker to prepare, and I like the texture of steak more than ground beef, but both will work.