Work Life Tips

Creating your own gift basket online is as easy as clicking a mouse! You can go to various Internet gift basket sites and choose your items. Many sites allow you to add individual items to a gift basket. If you aren’t sure about the cost of creating an online gift basket, you’ll probably want to use a site that offers individual pricing for each item. You can add as many items as you can afford to your online gift basket, but be sure to consider the cost of shipping and handling into the total price. Once you’ve finished designing your online gift basket, you’ll probably pay with a credit card, and then you’ll enter the person’s address who will receive the basket, and you’re through!

Gourmet gift baskets offer enough variety to satisfy everyone’s taste. Whether you choose to order or create your own gourmet food gift basket, you’ll probably want to have each basket follow a theme. For a south of the border gourmet food gift basket, add fresh tortilla chips and a variety of salsas. Appetizers and hors d’oeuvres make great gourmet gift basket items. Some wonderful selections include pepper and onion relish, fresh crab cakes, shrimp cocktail with sauce, smoked salmon samplers, crackers and cheese, and a variety of spices and vinegars. Other gourmet food baskets might center around fresh fruits and nuts, including strawberries, pears, apples, oranges, pistachios, chocolate covered peanuts, almonds, and pecans. Gourmet cheeses and crackers are also great gourmet gift basket choices.

When it is time to tell someone thank you, surprise them with a thoughtful thank you gift basket. Express your appreciation with treats, such as chocolates, nuts, and cookies, flavored coffees and herbal teas. If you want to thank someone more personally, then focus on their interests, and fill a gift basket with hobby supplies, new magazines, the latest edition of a favorite author, or tickets to the theater. Be sure to place a nice note into the basket expressing your gratitude. You can create a wonderful thank you gift basket yourself, or you can order one online.

Kids scrapbooking projects offer a unique opportunity to include your child in the memory making process. Your child’s drawing is more valuable, beautiful and personalized then standard dies cuts, stickers or other embellishments you can buy. Let your children’s imagination run wild, and allow them to use your cardstock and pens on a regular basis. You may reap some wonderful, yet inexpensive page enhancements. You can just cut around the image and adhere it to their pages. Just make sure you use an appropriate scrapbooking adhesive so you don’t ruin your kids scrapbooking pages.

Create unique story books for your children with this great scrapbooking theme. Chose a simple nursery rhyme or tale or holiday event, use your extra photos and imagination! You can draw your own illustrations, or use scrapbook theme sets to help embellish the pages. Silhouetting is a great technique to use here as you can crop out the real background and draw in a fantasy one. You can use as much poetic licence as you wish with the story line. Jack and the Bean Stalk, Goldie Locks and the Three bears and the three little pigs all lend themselves well to story book albums.

A fruit punch concoction is a great addition to your Easter brunch or dinnertime meal. Here’s how to make a bowl to serve 18.

2 – cups orange juice
2 – 10 oz. packages frozen strawberries, thawed
1 – pint vanilla ice cream
2 – liters ginger ale

Combine orange juice, frozen strawberries, and one-pint vanilla ice cream. Blend ingredients to a smooth consistency. Pour into large bowl. Add ginger ale. Spoon remainder of ice cream into bowl when ready to serve. Enjoy!

If you’d like to feed a lot of folks on Easter with minimal fuss, try cooking a crockpot meal. Preparation is simple. Just get your ingredients ready beforehand, add them to the crockpot, and then let it cook for several hours. If you’re worried about having enough food to serve, spend a little time to plan ahead and borrow a few crockpots to have all your ingredients cooking at once. Here are a few meal ideas to start with on Easter day:

• Cook up a tender roast beef dinner in the crockpot. Just add chopped vegetables like cut carrots, cut potatoes, sliced celery, and peas. Season with olive oil, lemon pepper, and beef broth. Get all your ingredients in the pot and expect it to cook for about nine hours.
• Make a green bean casserole by combining frozen cut green beans, chopped onions, and Alfredo cheese sauce into a pot. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about four hours.

What meal is complete without a little sweet treat? Easter time is no exception. Whether you’re serving up brunch for the family, a dinner party for guests, or a cozy Easter breakfast for two, try adding a little dessert or sweet dish to your meal. Simple additions like pecan waffles in maple syrup or apricot filled crescent rolls can make eating a morning meal at Easter that much more of an indulgence. For brunch, try a banana bread pudding in savory rum sauce or French toast topped with strawberries and syrup. Dinnertime desserts can include a soufflé covered in raspberry sauce or bourbon and chocolate pecan pie.

As spring approaches and Easter is near, it’s time to think about a great meal for dinner get-togethers. Meal planning doesn’t have to be a chore. Put together a delicious traditional meal that includes a glazed ham, buttered peas and carrots, and potatoes topped with Parmesan cheese. Don’t forget dessert! Include a delectable treat of lemon truffle or fresh strawberry pie.

Russian “Paskhas”:
The desserts, which have appeared on Russian Easter Day breakfast tables since 17th century, are a traditional treat served to celebrate the end of Lent, breaking the seven-week fast of vegetarian-only foods. Paskha cannot be considered healthy, as it is both high-carb and high fat. However, sweeteners of your choice can substitute sugar, making the dishes low-carb and choose low-fat varieties of cheese, cream, and sour cream can make them lower in fat.
Here’s how you cook a baked low carb Paskha. Take: 1.5 lb. full-fat Ricotta cheese 6 egg yolks 1.5 c full-fat sour cream Equivalent of 1 c sugar 1 c dry black currants 1/2 c almond flour 1/4 t baking soda Mix all ingredients, kneed well and fold into a greased bread or cake pan. Bake at 350* F for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in it comes out dry.