With a little more than a week left before Christmas, I don’t know about you, but I know I am still scrambling to finish up my gift buying and baking.  Ok, I’ll admit, I just started this week! As I figure out my last minute preparations I have come across some really great gift ideas and recipes that I’d like to try this holiday season and share with you all.

Christmas Treats & Baking:

How does this fudge from Cheeseslave look?  Made with all real food ingredients, I know my family is going to love it and so will yours!

A couple of years ago, one of my most very favorite bloggers, Ann Marie of Cheeseslave started a weekly menu plan by email.  I was so excited and was probably one of the first ones to sign up.  Ann Marie has been posting her tried and true recipes on her blog for several years and it is no secret to her readers that she is an experienced and well travelled cook and taster!  She ran her menu mailer for close to a year when it first launched and I looked forward to that menu reaching my inbox each week!  Her recipes were always delicious and nourishing, with many familiar and simple to do, and some more unique, challenging your cooking skills.

Light and flakey goodness!

The Christmas season is upon us once again.  Most everyone has a twinkle in their eye and the excitement of the season is hard to contain — unless you are Scrooge!  Getting together with family and friends, having parties, making crafts, decorating and celebrating the birth of Christ are all ways we love to celebrate.  But I believe that one of the most significant ways in which we celebrate this special occasion is with food!  This has been demonstrated world wide, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannuka, Kwanza or anything in between!  It is one of the few times each year where we invest a lot of time and effort into making elaborate and rich dishes to indulge in with friends and family.