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what are goji berriesHomemade Food Gift Baskets - Created By You
Gifts of food are welcomed and appreciated for all holidays and special occasions. It can be a basket of homemade goodies or it can be a more elaborate gift basket containing gourmet foods and a bottle of wine.
Wicker baskets are traditional containers, but there are many other containers that are suitable. Unbreakable containers like wooden crates, trays with an edge, basins, tubs, and ice buckets are good alternatives. Since theme gift baskets are very popular, here are three of my favorite themes when making a food gift basket.
Cookie Lover's Theme
This is a gift for anyone who loves sweets. It's a good idea for work associates and teachers as well as family and friends. A cookie jar, mixing bowl, or a basket are all nice containers. Line the container with a decorative towel, purchased shred, or tissue paper. Fill it with an assortment of cookies wrapped in small cello bags, purchased cookie mixes, chocolate chips, herbal tea, gourmet coffee, or envelopes of hot chocolate mix. Add a wooden spoon, spatula, and your favorite cookie recipes written on recipe cards. Wrap the completed gift in a cello bag, tied at the top with curly ribbon. If desired, tie a decorative cookie cutter in with the ribbon and add a gift card.
Barbecue Theme
This is a particularly nice idea for men on Father's Day, birthdays, or anniversaries. It's also a nice gift to take if you are invited as a guest to a barbecue or housewarming party. Use a container that can double as a cooler such as a metal or plastic basin, tray, or a pail. An unbreakable tray with an edge works well, too. Include gifts items such as bbq tools, an apron, an oven mitt, cookbook, or citronella candles. Barbecue sauces, marinades, rubs, hot sauce, and cans of soda or beer are all necessary items for a cookout.
Mexican/Southwestern Theme
Anyone who enjoys spicy food would be more than happy to receive an assortment of Mexican food items. The best tip I can gift you in creating this theme gift basket is to make it spicy and make it colorful. Place an assortment of spices, dry or canned beans, rice, bags of chips, and jars of salsa in a basket or a colorful bowl or serving tray. Add some fresh fruit such as avocados, lemons, limes, and pineapple. You may want to add a cookbook for Mexican food or beverages. Line the container with bright colored terry towels and top off your gift basket with some fresh peppers. Don't forget the makings for margaritas.
For assembly information, decorating tips, and unique container ideas for homemade food gift baskets, go to http://www.homemade-gift-basket-ideas.com/
How to Choose Fruits and Vegetables
When purchasing fruits and vegetables, look for those that are 'beautiful' - bright colored and unwithered - and yield slightly when pressed. However, don't be fooled by bright colors - highly colored fruit can still be 'green'. Some fruits, especially peaches and nectarines, are picked so underripe that they never will ripen, but will slowly rot from within. You can tell these fruits by their rock-hardness.
Refrigerate vegetables - except for garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squash. Most fruit should be kept at room temperature for maximum flavor and aroma.
Apples: Don't buy apples that are bruised or shriveled. For eating out of the hand: Delicious McIntosh, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Winesap. For cooking: Gravenstein, Jonathan, Delicious Granny Smith, and other tart, dense apples. Store in the refrigerator in a plastic bag.
Apricots: Never buy green ones. Look for velvety skin.
Artichokes: Choose a good artichoke at the market. It should squeak when squeezed, feel heavy in your hand, have fleshy leaves, and look fresh. Brown or purple coloration near the base of the leaves, which indicates that the artichoke has been touched by frost, marks a prize - such artichokes are sweeter and tastier. Trim the stem and thorns from the outer leaves.
Asparagus: Choose fresh asparagus, without woody pores at the end of the stalk and with tight scales at the bud end. Break each stalk where it 'wants' to break to eliminate the tough ends.
Avocados: Press lightly with your thumb at the stem end. If the rind gives a little, the fruit is ripe. If the rind is hard and has sunken spots, it's over the hill. Avocados will ripen at room temperature in a closed paper bag.
Beans (green or snap): Buy crisp beans - you should be able to hear them break if you bend them. Don't buy bumpy beans - they will be tough.
Bananas - Partially green fruit will ripen at room temperature. After it is ripe you can store it in refrigerator, in spite of what Chiquita Banana used to say.
Blueberries - Look for a white bloom on the skin.
Broccoli - Choose broccoli that is dark green, with tight buds, and firm, blemish-free stems.
Cabbage- Heads should be firm, solid and heavy.
Carrots - Medium sized are the best. Don't buy hairy carrots or carrots with shriveled ends.
Cherries - Look for glossy, brightly colored fruit with stems that are bright green and attached. Don't buy cherries that have brown spots or are shriveled.
Citrus Fruit - Pick up citrus and feel its heaviness in your hand - the heavier, the juicier. Choose fruit with thin, smooth, flexible peels. Pointed fruit tends to have thick peels.
Corn - Freshness counts with corn, so buy it from a vendor who guarantees that it is picked the day it is sold. Ears should have fresh-looking green husks with young but plump and developed kennels. Silk should be shiny and yellow. If you can't use corn right away, husk it, warp each ear in plastic and store in the refrigerator.
Cucumbers - Yellow on the skin indicates over ripeness, excerpt in Kirby's cucumbers. Look for firmness and a svelte look - fat cucumbers are not as good as medium or skinny ones.
Eggplant - A shiny skin and green cap means eggplant is fresh. The lighter in weight, the fewer seeds.
Melons - Sniff the melon for ripeness. It should smell rich and fruity. Press the stem end - it should give a little. If the melon feels heavy in your hand for its size, it is probably ripe. Fore watermelons: Thump to see if it sounds hollow, a sign - not infallible - of ripeness; look for a yellowish patch (not dead white) on the bottom. For cantaloupes: choose those with an underlying creamy color. Honeydews should give slightly when pressed on the blossom end.
Peaches and Nectarines - Don't buy green tinged fruit. To ripen peaches, store them in a paper bag that is closed loosely.
Peppers - Look for bright, waxy skins. Wrinkles means old age, as does softness.
Pineapples - Smell them at the stem end for ripeness. Heft them in your hand - they should feel heavy. The rind should be tinged with orange. Also pull one of the leaves away from the fruit - it should come off easily. The leaves should be green and fresh-looking. Don't buy bruised fruit, or fruit that has soft, moist spots.
Raspberries - Look carefully for mold, and do not buy berries in boxes that have stains (an indication that the berries may be overripe)
Strawberries - They should be red all over, with no green or white parts. Check the carton to make sure that berries packed on the bottom are not green. Look for mold.
Summer squash - Buy shiny-skinned squash less than 7 inches long. Press on the ends- if ends are soft, they are probably too old.
Tomatoes - Tomatoes should be bright red and yield to slight pressure, but should not be too soft. Buy vine-ripened ones. To ripen tomatoes, cover them with a cloth and keep at room temperature.
KiyaSama is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers.
22 Favorite Chocolate Quotes for Easter
Some people say that the tradition of giving Easter eggs began with the Chinese, who gave eggs as gifts in the celebration of spring. Regardless of its origin, there is no question that most people prefer chocolate Easter eggs today.
Here are a few of my favorite chocolate quotes that you can use in Easter egreetings, postal greetings and invitations, etc. -- or just to enjoy:
1. "Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces " ~ Judith Viorst
2. "Biochemically, love is just like eating large amounts of chocolate." ~ John Milton
3."Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies." ~ John Q. Tullius
4. "Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it I wash my mouth out with chocolate." ~ Charles M. Schultz
5."Forget love... I'd rather fall in chocolate!" ~ Author Unknown
6 "Once in a while I say, 'Go for it' and I eat chocolate." ~ Claudia Schiffer
7. "Chocolate makes everyone smile - even bankers." ~ Chocolatier Benneville Strohecker
8."Caramels are only a fad. Chocolate is a permanent thing." ~ Milton Snavely Hershey
9. "There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who love chocolate, and communists." ~ Leslie Moak Murray in �Murray's Law' comic strip
10. "Any sane person loves chocolate." ~ Writer Bob Greene
11. "Other things are just food. But chocolate's chocolate." ~ Writer Patrick Skene Catling
12. "Stress wouldn't be so hard to take if it were chocolate covered." ~ Anonymous
13. "Chocolate is cheaper than therapy and you don't need an appointment." ~ Anonymous
14. "Chocolate: Here today...Gone today!" ~ Anonymous
15. "Chocolate is nature's way of making up for Mondays." ~ Anonymous
16. "There's more to life than chocolate, but not right now." ~ Anonymous
17. "If you are not feeling well, if you have not slept, chocolate will revive you. But you have no chocolate! I think of that again and again! My dear, how will you ever manage?" ~ Marquise de S�vign� (French writer and lady of fashion)
18. "Chocolate: the poor mans' champagne." ~ Daniel Worona
19. "The greatest tragedies were written by the Greek Sophocles and English Shakespeare. Neither knew chocolate." ~ Sandra Boynton
20. "Life without chocolate is life lacking something important." ~ Writers Marcia Colman Morton & Frederic Morton
21. "Nothing is more romantic than chocolate." ~ Ted, Queer Eye For The Straight Guy
22. "My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far I've finished two bags of M&M's and a chocolate cake. I feel better already." ~ Dave Barry
I hope these chocolate quotes made you smile. Happy Easter!
For 'Top 10' Lists of our very favorite chocolate quotes, check out Famous-Quotes-And-Quotations.com, a website that specializes in 'Top 10' lists of quotations in dozens of categories.
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