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Christmas Gift Guide 2016: Gift Ideas for Cooks & Foodies

When putting together the following pages of gift ideas, I took two things into consideration:

  1. What do I have that I know other cooks and foodies would love?
  2. What would I love to open on Christmas morning, myself?!

Merry Christmas from my family to your family! ~ Joi ("Joy")

Curtis Stone Dura-Bake Nonstick 3-Piece Sheet Pan Baking Set

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We frequently buy kitchen gadgets, gizmos, small appliances, pans, dishes, and all things “COOKING” from the Home Shopping Network. One of the reasons is the convenience – see it, buy it, get it, use it… all without venturing into a single store. I’m not going to lie – I’m wild about that.

The main reason,  however, is the fact that they feature the best products imaginable. They often sell Curtis Stone pans and, as someone who spends a lot of time cooking, I can tell you – they aren’t just great – they’re phenomenal.

A recent purchase was this great looking Dura-Bake Nonstick 3-Piece Sheet Pan Baking Set (mine are even red, like the ones pictured here). They’re available on Amazon now, too, which is also crazy convenient.

The unique and divine Carbon steel with Dura-Bake nonstick coating makes these sheet pans not just gorgeous, not just excellent to cook with, but also easy to clean. Nothing sticks. I love that they come in three different sizes, too. Sometimes you just don’t need a great big pan – other times, only the big guy will do.

I’ve used mine for biscuits, pastry puffs, roasted vegetables, baked fish, fries, bacon-wrapped asparagus, garlic bread, cinnamon toast… They’re perfect each and every time. I love the easy cleanup and the performance but I think my favorite thing may be much more simple and shallow that the rest…. They’re gorgeous!

The largest one is ideal for most frozen pizzas – not that you or I would ever resort to something like frozen pizzas. But IF we did… well, it’s perfect. 😉

Below is bacon-wrapped asparagus I recently made on one of the pans in my set. As you can tell, I didn’t use parchment paper (something I’d normally ALWAYS do with traditional cooking sheets). It’s absolutely unnecessary with these pans simply because they clean up so easily.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus on a Curtis Stone Sheet Pan

Product Description from Amazon:

What you get: 17″ x 12″ Sheet pan 15″ x 10″ Sheet pan 13″ x 9″ Sheet pan

Basic Measurements: 17″ x 12″ Sheet Pan – Approx. 17-1/2″L x 12-1/2″W x 1″H; 15″ x 10″ Sheet Pan – Approx. 15-1/2″L x 10-1/2″W x 1″H; 13″ x 9″ Sheet Pan – Approx. 13-1/2″L x 9-1/2″W x 1″H Base Thickness: 0.7mm

Material Composition: Carbon steel with Dura-Bake nonstick coating

Use and Care: Oven Safe Temperature: up to 450 degrees F

Care: Dishwasher safe, but hand washing is recommended

Features: Dura-Bake nonstick coating

Takes the successful nonstick capabilities of Dura-Pan nonstick and applies them to Curtis’ range of bakeware. Specially formulated multiple-layer nonstick coating engineered for added strength and durability. Offers improved nonstick performance in comparison to traditional nonstick bakeware. Provides premium food release when baking and easy cleanup 8 times stronger than unreinforced nonsticks. Versatile pans Perfect for baking, roasting and cooking one-pan meals Ideal size for baking a batch of cookies or cooking a sheet pan supper. Set of 3 sheet pans Includes a small pan, medium pan and large pan. Provides a perfectly sized pan for every dish. Carbon steel construction.

See Dura-Bake Nonstick 3-Piece Sheet Pan Baking Set for more information. These would be IDEAL for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.

Cookware Protector Sets: Absolutely Ingenious, No Doubt About It

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Cookware Protector Set

 

TJMaxx gets me. They just really, really get me. So much so that they’re often a few feet ahead of me when it comes to knowing what I need. Honestly, I’ve lost track of the times I’ve meandered through the store and found things I had no idea I needed! Which is exactly why when any of my daughters and I go, we allow time for at least an hour of wandering and shopping.

The males in our family seldom are up for this – except for the 10 month old. He doesn’t have much of a choice.

The Core Kitchen Cookware Protector Set (link to other Core Kitchen Protector Sets on Amazon) jumped out at me on a recent trip. The bright colors caught my eye and I had to take a closer look.

Each set comes with three colorful cookware (or plates, bowls…) protectors. They’re designed in a way to simply and beautifully cushion your pans or dishes and protect them from scratches.

I wish I’d had these many, many, many scratched pans ago.

If you live near a TJMaxx, look for these beauties – they’d make brilliant additions to your own home as well as fun and useful gift ideas for the cooks in your life. There are also many different color combinations available on Amazon.


All I Need Today is a Little Bit of Coffee and A Whole Lot of Jesus… AMEN!

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Obsessed. That’s what I have become with Primitives by Kathy on Amazon. The wonderful humor, love of life, and adorable images… seriously, I cannot get enough of it. So many people on my Christmas list are getting gifts with Primitives by Kathy tags on them!

I’d be lying if I said I haven’t ordered any for myself. Shhhh, don’t tell.

The towel pictured above is on its way to my home and it may or not be another one for me.

It is.

What can I say? It’s my motto. In fact, if it mentioned cats, old movies, baseball and chocolate I’d swear it were made for me personally.

Details: All I Need Today is a Little Coffee and a Whole Lotta Jesus

  • Cotton
  • Imported
  • Towel measures 28″ x 28″
  • Made with a high quality Cotton
  • Makes a great gift
  • Towel measures 28″ x 28″
  • Made of Cotton

Click through to take a closer look at the Primitives by Kathy Coffee & Jesus Towel. Her towels are selling like crazy – and I swear I’m not the only one buying them up!

P.S. Don’t tell, but I definitely got this one for one of my daughters.


Dinosaur Taco Holders (How Freaking Cute!)

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Dinosaur Taco Holders

If I haven’t mentioned it here, it’s the only place I haven’t mentioned it and you’re the only ones I haven’t told…. our first grandbaby (a boy) is due in a matter of weeks and we are completely over the moon.  As someone who had all daughters (three to be exact), I can’t wait to see what it’s like to have a little boy in the family.

I’ve been brushing up on my dinosaurs (ever notice how many kinds there are… trust me there are A LOT) so I can impress him with my knowledge. Just so you know, I plan to be the coolest MiMi in the world.

These adorable Dinosaur Taco Holders are just the thing for any other cool moms, dads, grandmoms, granddads, aunts, or uncles who want to score points with the little ones.

Let me just say, right up front, that many little girls LOVE dinosaurs just as much as (or even more than) little boys.  They’re fascinating! My own daughters, while they loved (and love) animals to distraction, were simply never into dinosaurs .

Dragons? Absolutely. But dinosaurs, not so much.

If you have little boys or girls in your family who’d get a kick out of these taco  holders, they’re available on Amazon. While they’d make fun Christmas gifts, I think they’d be just as fun to have at your house for extra, extra cool lunches.. as well as extra “cool points” for yourself.

Those are always nice!


Food-Inspired Rattles for Toddlers and Babies… These Are Adorable!

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Pebble Doughnut and Ice Cream Rattles
Pebble Food Rattles
As a food blogger, I almost always have food on the brain. As a mom of three (and soon to be grandmother to a precious baby boy, who’ll be arriving in January!), I always have children and babies on my mind too.

Pebbles by Kahiniwalla has entered the picture and combines these great loves in one place!  They have the most adorable food-inspired toys that you and the precious children in your life will love.

The adorable food rattles include Avocados, Watermelons, Doughnuts, Ice Cream Cones, Mushrooms and many more.

I was sent the two colorful beauties you see here so I could familiarize myself with the rattles before telling you all about them. My first grandbaby already has two toy rattles and he isn’t much bigger than they are…… yet.

All Pebble toys are made of 100% cotton. They are machine washable and can be tumble-dried on a low setting.

Fruit and vegetable rattles were some of the first designs by Pebble. Children became enchanted with the bright colors and rattle bells. Food rattles appeal to babies and toddlers alike. Infants and babies are intrigued by the rattle of the bell and they are easy to grab and chew. The older, toddler-age kids can play make-believe with the food rattles in their toy supermarket or kitchen.

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Pebble Doughnut Rattle
Pebble Food Rattles
About Pebble by Kahiniwalla:

All Pebble products are made by Hathay Bunano. Hathay Bunano, meaning handmade or hand-knitted in Bangla, is a non-profit fair trade organisation in Bangladesh. It’s mission is to create fairly paid, good quality, flexible and local employment for rural women who are poor and often disadvantaged. Hathay Bunano aims to provide employment which fits in with the rhythm of rural life and to prevent economic migration to the cities. It aims to keep families together and in particular to keep mummies with their babies and children by providing employment in a village setting close to their homes. It aims to address all the reasons why a woman might not be able to work and to support her so that she can work and can earn money to support her family.

These beautiful rattles are the highest quality and I’m totally in love with their bright colors. They’re soft and just the right size for little hands.  I absolutley recommend visiting Pebble Child and seeing their complete collection of gorgeous toys.

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Pebble Food Shaped Rattles
You can browse all of the adorable food rattles and pick your own favorites. A lot of Pebble Rattles are also available on Amazon!

Learn more about Pebble by Kahiniwalla at http://kahiniwalla.com and http://www.pebblechild.com/.

Pebble Doughnut and Ice Cream Rattles
Pebble Food Rattles

Multicolored Bean Pot Tops the Must Have List for this Food Blogger

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Multicolored Bean Pot
The beautiful 2-Quart Certified International Tequila Sunrise Bean Pot, pictured above, is at the top of my list of “must haves.” As an cook, I love surrounding myself with the best pots, pans, gadgets, and tools possible. As a food blogger and food photographer, I like for everything to be as pretty as Ava Gardner in a red dress… or as close as they can possibly get.

  • Lead free ceramic
  • Designed by Nancy Green
  • High Fashion Design for Everyday Use
  • Perfect for Casual Entertaining
  • Hand Wash Recommended

See Certified International Tequila Sunrise Bean Pot for more information and a closer look. Gorgeous!


Last Minute Christmas Shopping for Cooks and Foodies on Target.com

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A few days ago, I was taking a few pictures for the food blog and it occurred to me…. most of my dishes and a lot of my gadgets and small kitchen appliances come from Target! Somewhere along the way, Target stepped up to be one of the best places for buying dishes, kitchen gadgets and small kitchen appliances – and, it would appear, pretty much my “go to” place for each.

While I have a gazillion and seven things lined up to do today, I HAD to take a few minutes to tell you about a few special savings events going on and coming up on Target’s website.

  • Now: When you spend 75$ on Kitchen Items – EVEN Sales stuff- you earn a 15$ Gift Card for yourself (or a great stocking stuffer for someone else!)
  • From the 18th (this Sunday) – the 24th (next Saturday): You can take an extra 25% off anything you buy in the Kitchen department by using the code KITCHEN when checking out.

While I’m wild at the thought of saving 25% (that ends up saving a lot of money), I think I’m even more excited by the thought of a 15$ gift card. More dishes!

Click through the link above or any of the images to see all the wonderful things in Target’s online Kitchen Department.

Also… while this isn’t remotely “kitchen” or “foodie” related (unless, of course, we’re talking about taking great food pics), Target also has another crazy deal going on from the 18th -24th: Earn yourself a Free $200 gift card when you buy an iPhone 7! Do you have ANY idea how many dishes you could buy with a $200 gift card??

Last-Minute Gift Idea for Cooks in Your Life: Rachael Ray Moppines

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Rachael Ray Moppine

A while back (actually quite a while, I believe) I wrote a review or Rachael Ray’s Moppines. Loved them then, loved them now. This morning, while thinking of great last minute Christmas gift ideas for cooks, I thought of these moppines and how much I love them. I checked Amazon and, sure enough, if you order them asap, they’ll arrive before Christmas.

Speaking of love, I’ve got NOTHING but mad love for Amazon, too.

Since reviewing my own red moppines, A LOT of gorgeous new colors have been added to the Moppines Collection – meaning you can go all matchy matchy with anyone’s kitchen color scheme.

  • brown
  • mustard
  • celery green
  • blue
  • brick red
  • smoke blue
  • orange
  • purple
  • red
  • burnt orange
  • lavendar
  • green

And they are all gorgeous. Click here to take a closer look.


Adorable Gift Idea for Foodies and Cooks: Le Creuset Stoneware Honey Pot

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Le Creuset Stoneware Honey Pot
I can’t decide which I love more about this beautiful Stoneware Honey Pot from Le Creuset – the gorgeous Dijon color, the name Le Creuset on the dipper, the bee on the front, or its overall great looks. I’m calling it a tie and I’m calling it something I need in my kitchen badly.

  • Stoneware pot holds up to 16 ounces of honey
  • Non-porous enamel finish; resists odors, staining, chipping, and cracking
  • Special cut-out lid to fit its accompanying Silicone honey dipper
  • Dishwasher-safe; microwave-safe; oven-safe up to 500 degrees F
  • Measures approximately 5.0 IN 4.0 IN 4.0 IN

If you order soon, you can still have this Stoneware Honey Pot delivered by Christmas. Le Creuset has an unreal number of gorgeous stoneware lovelies for the kitchen – many of which are also available in this Dijon color. Or, if you’re like me and pretty much go with every color of the rainbow, that’s more than possible too!


Gifts from the Kitchen: 100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion

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Gifts from the Kitchen: 100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion

Inevitably, after months of shopping and planning, my best-received gifts are the cookies and candies I’ve made for my loved ones. That’s why, in the days leading up to Christmas, you can only find me if you look in my kitchen. I’m the one covered in powdered sugar, chocolate, and corn syrup – dancing around to Christmas music.

Man, I love this time of year!

If you love giving gifts you’ve made in your own kitchen, too, here’s a cookbook you’ll want to add to your library right away.  Gifts from the Kitchen: 100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion, by Annie Rigg, is an uncommonly beautiful book. As a cookbook collector, one of the first things I notice about a cookbook is how good it feels about itself –  the cover, artwork, and photographs let you know, right off the bat, if the cookbook feels really good about itself or if its heart is only half in it.

Gifts from the Kitchen feels amazingly good about itself – we’re talking “supermodel” confidence, here.

Naturally, for a book to be a great book – there has to be more than just great looks going for it. Thankfully, Gifts from the Kitchen comes through in the personality department, too  – it’s not just a pretty face.

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Gifts from the Kitchen: 100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion
While I’m telling you about Gifts from the Kitchen a few weeks before Christmas (timing is everything, guys), this book is actually off the charts useful throughout the year. Why? Because people LOVE homemade gifts all year long!  The book covers all celebrations and all seasons. Not only can you use the beautiful delicacies for gift-giving, you can also use them to celebrate special occasions.

Special Occasion Recipes Include

  • Fortune Cookies (Chinese New Year)
  • Chocolate Valentine’s Cakes (Valentine’s Day or Anniversaries)
  • Love Heart Sugar Cubes (Valentine’s Day)
  • Double Dark Chocolate, Pecan and Ginger Cookies (Father’s Day)
  • Easter Nest Cupcakes (Easter)
  • Rugelach (Jewish Celebrations)
  • Baby Shower Cakes
  • Wedding Cake
  • Raspberry, Lemon, and Almond Friands (Mother’s Day)
  • Stained Glass Snowflake Cookies (Christmas)
  • And More…

Recipes for Gifts That Fit Any Occasion Include

  • Chocolate Truffles
  • Peanut or Madadamia Brittle
  • Creamy Vanilla Fudge with Chocolate and Nuts
  • Pickled Beets
  • Pickled Shallots
  • Spiced Cranberry Jelly
  • Florentines
  • Chocolate-Coated Candied Almonds
  • Mango Chutney with Chili Pepper and Ginger
  • English Muffins
  • Cherry Jam
  • Strawberry and Vanilla Preserves
  • Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread
  • Honeycomb (look especially perfect for Halloween)
  • Pesto
  • And Many more….

In addition to the clear and simple recipes, Gifts from the Kitchen provides beautiful examples of ways to present many of these food gifts to your lucky foodie.

This is not a “gluten free” cookbook, but many of the candies and other recipes are, in and of themselves, gluten free. I have not tested any of the other recipes with gluten free flours, so I can’t say how well they’d take to substitutions. It is, however, in my opinion, more than worth having in your collection. The candies, spreads, jellies, etc. outnumber the cakes and cupcakes… and even they provide inspiration and ideas for the gluten free cook.

I’m especially excited about a recipe for “Wholegrain Honey Mustard.” Wholegrain mustard is an obsession of mine – I add it to more recipes than you can imagine (potato salad, BBQ sauce, deviled eggs, egg salad sandwiches, salad dressings…). I can only imagine how amazing this homemade Wholegrain Honey Mustard will be!

See Gifts from the Kitchen for more information.

While you’re on Amazon, check out the other beautiful cookbooks by Annie Rigg.

Gifts from the Kitchen: 100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion