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Decorated Elephant Cookies. Elephant Baby Shower Cookies for Two Peas & Their Pod Congratulations to Maria and Josh of Two Peas and Their Pod who are expecting their very own sweet pea very soon!

Decorated Elephant Cookies

It's a very exciting time for these two talented bloggers, and thoughtful Marla {Family Fresh Cooking} and Lisa {With Style and Grace} wanted to make it extra special with a surprise virtual baby shower! They organized a host of wonderful food bloggers (see list below), to come together and surpise Maria and Josh with on-line sweets, savouries and crafts, in honor of the soon-to-be-here baby boy. Surprise! Maria and Josh, hope you like these cookies I made for you and your soon-to-arrive bundle of joy. With this virtual shower may you and your new baby feel the warm welcome that is being expressed by all of us in celebration of his arrival.

Virtual Baby Shower for Two Peas & Their Pod Drinks Simple Bites – Lemon Balm infused Lemonade Ingredients, Inc. – Healthy Fruit Punch Food for My Family – Lemongrass Soda. The Ultimate Cupcake Guide. The Ultimate Cupcake Guide compares six batches of cupcakes to discover which ingredients techniques make cupcakes light, dense, greasy, crumbly, or moist.

The Ultimate Cupcake Guide

Cupcakes have proven themselves to be much more than a fleeting baking trend. With the amount of cupcake bakeries, reality television shows, and recipes in general, it’s clear they’re here to stay. Cupcakes are much easier than layered cakes to bake and transport, not to mention their cute size makes them the perfect indulgence for just about any occasion or holiday, like Halloween! It’s no wonder they’re so popular. Despite their popularity, many cupcakes you find at the grocery store bakery are either bland or cloyingly sweet. For this round of kitchen experimenting, I tested six batches of cupcakes to discover what makes a cupcake domed or flat, rich or crumbly, soft or slightly chewy, to help you create your version of the perfect cupcake. Control Yield: 12 cupcakes Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 20 min Total Time: 50 min Ingredients: Oil. Emergency Ingredient Substitutions for Baking. Big Batch Cooking: Prepare Lots of Food with Minimal Work.

Honey and cinnamon cleanse Every morning, on an empty… Kitchencheatsheet.gif (GIF Image, 900x5870 pixels) - Scaled (10%) How to Cook. 365 Days of Kale: Freezing Kale. A reader recently asked if I froze the kale I used in a previous post for Chinese-style Kale with Tofu.

365 Days of Kale: Freezing Kale

Yes, I did, using kale harvested in late November right before I knew that the real snow was coming, was not likely to melt again, which finally put an end to our gardening for 2008. Here is what I did to freeze kale:• Put on a big pot of water to boil.• Wash kale in sink of water then drain in a second sink or on a towel on the counter top.• Tear or cut into 2 inch strips or manageable sizes (I did not freeze the big thick stems from the curly kale but smaller stems are ok).• Fill sink with clean cold water, including as many ice cubes as you have on hand.• Place the cut kale in boiling water and boil for 3 minutes.• Take kale out of pot with tongs, a colander, and/or slotted spoon.• Put hot kale in cold water and swish around.• Take kale out of water.• Drain any excess water off greens (save for future soup broth!). Where kale is more than decoration on my plate! Diana Dyer, MS, RD. Do You Really Need to Refrigerate Butter? And 7 Other Debated Foods 

Inspired by conversations on the Food52 Hotline, we're sharing tips and tricks that make navigating all of our kitchens easier and more fun.

Do You Really Need to Refrigerate Butter? And 7 Other Debated Foods 

Today: The fear of spoiled food has many of us quaking in our kitchens. We uncovered the chilling truth about whether these 10 items really need to be refrigerated. There has been many a heated debate over how to store delicate items like eggs and butter. Some swear that butter is fine when left covered on the counter -- and there's nothing worse than hard butter come baking time, or toast time. And it's a shame to think that fruit, which looks so lovely piled into a stone bowl on the counter, needs to be hidden in the icebox. While it would be nice if really fresh, high-quality foods from your local farmer didn't need to be refrigerated, the truth is that refrigeration helps many items -- though not all -- remain at their peak longer. 1. 2. More: Bake those apples, without a recipe. 3. 4. The oils in nuts make them go bad relatively quickly. 5. 6.