Mail/Internet Order Places

Hi I thought I would post some Raves of some of the places I have tried. Sometimes you wish to send something and can't think of ideas. Here are some. Enjoy!

Dale and Thomas Popcorn
I first saw this in Reader's Digest. I also found out that it was one of Oprah's favorite things. They have many flavors and are very tasty.
http://www.daleandthomaspopcorn.com/

Dancing Deer Baking Company
I was sent brownies from here before and they were delicious. They came in the coolest wooden box.
http://www.dancingdeer.com/

1800 Bakery
I purchased a birthday cake that I sent to someone. It came with the cake, utensils, candles. It got rave reviews.
http://www.1-800-bakery.com/

Pro Flowers
I have purchases flowers online for my Mom and Mother in Law often. I have found these to be the freshest flowers you can get. The prices are inline with the others.
http://www.proflowers.com/

PB Loco Peanut Butter
They have all sorts of different flavors. This also got rave reviews.
http://www.pbloco.com/

Serendipity 3 in NYC
I received a yummy frozen hot chocolate mix from here. It came in such a cute package.
http://www.serendipity3.com/main.htm

Garden Fresh Salsa Company
This is a Michigan company. Their products are in the mid-west. I don't know how far they go. But these are the ultimate tortilla chips.
http://www.gardenfreshsalsa.com/products.asp

1154 Lill Studio
Design your own handbags and wallets. These are awesome gifts. I was given one of these as a bridesmaid gift. I also have sent these out to others. So fun to design!
http://www.1154lill.com/home/

Shredded Carrots Galore

I needed to "practice" grating with my food processor. I bought the 11 Cup Processor earlier in the summer, but with moving haven't had much time to use it. So what should I shred?? How about some baby carrots. So I ended up with 6 Cups and couldn't think of anything else to do with them but make a carrot cake. But because I had 6 and the recipe only calls for 3 I decided to make 2 batches of cake. The second batch I made 1/2 into 12 cupcakes and 1/2 into a loaf of bread. Here is the basic recipe from Betty Crocker's Cookbook: Bridal Edition

Cake
1 1/2	cups granulated sugar
1	cup vegetable oil
3	eggs
2	cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
2	teaspoons ground cinnamon
1	teaspoon baking soda
1	teaspoon vanilla
1/2	teaspoon salt
3	cups shredded carrots (5 medium)
1	cup coarsely chopped walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting
1	package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4	cup butter or margarine, softened
2	to 3 teaspoons milk
1	teaspoon vanilla
4	cups powdered sugar

1.	(I combined this frosting recipe with another and omitted the milk and used 1/2 cup of softened butter) Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and sides of one 13x9-inch pan or two 8-inch or 9-inch round pans with shortening; lightly flour. In large bowl, beat granulated sugar, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed about 30 seconds or until blended. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, 1 teaspoon vanilla and the salt; beat on low speed 1 minute. Stir in carrots and nuts. Pour into pan(s).
2.	Bake 13x9-inch pan 40 to 45 minutes, round pans 30 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool rectangle in pan on cooling rack. Cool rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
3.	In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, milk and vanilla with electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, on low speed until smooth and spreadable. Frost 13x9-inch cake or fill and frost round layers with frosting. Store in refrigerator.

House Pics!!

Pardon the "non-staged" pictures. But I thought since I had taken some pictures I would post some.

Thank you to my coworker's garden!!!!

A slew of cherry tomato and a couple zucchinis made this recipe. I was so happy with this dish I made it twice in 3 days.
Sauté the following in Olive Oil
1/2 red onion diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
Add
1 diced/sliced zucchini (small pieces so they cook quick)
Couple hand fulls of Diced cherry tomatoes
I had about 1 1/2 Cups of leftover rice that I added.
Then I added Chicken broth and parmesan cheese to make a creamy risotto type dish.

WC Platinum Chef Challenge

This was my first Challenge. The ingredients were *Grapes*Basil*Rice*Avocado*Black Beans.
I was excited for these ingredients. I had two dishes that are in my regular rotation that include these.
#1 Avocado Tomato Side Salad (I guess I should get a clever name for this). I have made this a few times and needed to tweak it a bit to include the grapes.
Makes 2 servings
1 avocado sliced
1 medium tomato sliced (I have used yellow tomato in the past)
dried basil sprinkled on top (We dry our own)
splash of balsamic (so how do I incorporate the grapes you ask?) So I just used the food processor to make a grape balsamic dressing. It was really tasty!












#2
Black Bean Burritos (Again this is something in the regular rotation)
1 can of black beans drained and rinsed
1 can of corn
1 packaged of frozen Trader Joe's Brown Rice
2 TBS of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
World Harbors Fajitas Seasoning
Put all ingredients into a sauce pan and heat until the cheese melts and the rice is rehydrated.
Scoop ingredients into Whole Wheat tortilla shells. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Cookie Cookies Cookies

Here are the cookies I made
1. Bakingblondes wonderful coconut toffee cookies (with chocolate chips instead of toffee)
2. BBFCCC!
3. Snickerdoodles
4. Peanut Butter Oatmeal Rounds with Chocolate Chips
5. Chocolate Crinkles

This was the first time baking in my new oven. I used the convection setting. 1 and 2 turned out perfect. The BBFCC cookies are excellent! Bakingblondes cookies are fast becoming my favorite (even though I adjusted the recipe I will still give her the props).
Problems came with 3 and 4. Some how the oven turned off. I guess I need to figure out the buttons a little better. But what resulted was a very flat snickerdoodle and some slightly over cooked peanut butter oatmeal rounds. But I figured out the oven issue and the chocolate crinkles turned out pretty well.
LESSON LEARNED BUTTER CANNOT BE SUBSTITUTED FOR SHORTENING!!! (fine I get it!! ) This assisted the snickerdoodle spread.

My new Kitchen sink!!

This is a look at my new sink. :)