Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Christmas Recipes to Die For....

Looking for some unique and interesting recipes for Christmas? Planning to make your Christmas dinner different and more special this time? Then look no further we put our favorite Christmas recipes in this blog. Here we have brought you some delicious Christmas recipes and menu ideas for the festive season.


Poinsettia Punch


Ingredients 

  • (750-milliliter) bottle Champagne, chilled 
  • 3 cups cranberry-apple juice, chilled
  • 1/4 cup thawed white grape juice concentrate
  • 1/4 cup orange liqueur
  • Poinsettia Punch Recipe

Preparation

  1. Stir together all ingredients in a 2-quart pitcher.
  2. Serve in Champagne flutes. (Decorate serving tray with fresh cranberries, if desired.)

Melting Snowmen Cookie Balls

Ingredients 



1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
24   NUTTER BUTTER Cookies, finely crushed (about 3 cups)
2 pkg. (6 squares each) BAKER'S White Chocolate, melted
1/4 cup  PLANTERS Creamy Peanut Butter
48 Mini OREO Bite Size Cookies
2 Tbsp.  decorating icing

http://www.kraftfoods.com/assets/recipe_images/Melting-Snowmen-Cookie-Ball-Pops-52162.jpg

Preparation

Mix cream cheese and cookie crumbs until well blended. 
Shape into 48 (1-inch) balls; place in single layer in shallow pan. Freeze 10 min. Mix chocolate and peanut butter until well blended. Dip balls in chocolate mixture; place in shallow waxed paper-lined pan, allowing excess chocolate to pool at bottom of each ball. Decorate with remaining ingredients as shown in photo. 
Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Keep refrigerated.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cupcakes  

Ingredients

1 pkg. (2-layer size) devil's food cake mix
1 pkg.  (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1 cup cold milk
1/2 cup  PLANTERS Creamy Peanut Butter
1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping
4 squares  BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1/4 cup PLANTERS Dry Roasted Peanuts, chopped 

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cupcakes recipe

Preparation
Heat oven to 350°F.
Prepare cake batter and bake in 24 paper-lined muffin cups as directed on package. Cool 30 min. (Cupcakes need to still be warm to fill.)
Beat pudding mix and milk with whisk 2 min. Add peanut butter; mix well. Spoon into small freezer-weight resealable plastic bag; seal bag. Snip off 1 bottom corner from bottom of bag. Insert tip of bag into center of each cupcake; pipe in about 1 Tbsp. filling.
Microwave Cool Whip and chocolate in small microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 min. or until chocolate is melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after 1 min. Dip tops of cupcakes in glaze; sprinkle with nuts. Keep refrigerated.
Holiday Cheese Truffles
Ingredents 
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg.  (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 tsp. garlic powder
Dash  ground red pepper (cayenne)
1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers
  green onions, sliced
1-2/3 cups chopped PLANTERS Pecans
SOCIABLES Crackers
Holiday Cheese Truffles recipe
Preparation
Beat first 4 ingredients with mixer until blended. Divide in half. Add peppers to half, and onions to remaining half; mix each until blended.
Refrigerate several hours or until chilled.
Shape each mixture into 24 (1-inch balls); roll in nuts. Serve with crackers.
Chorizo and Cranberry Stuffing 
Ingredients
2 pkg. (6 oz. each) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1/2 lb.  chorizo, cooked, drained
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup  chopped cilantro
Chorizo and Cranberry Stuffing recipe
Preparation
Prepare stuffing mixes in large saucepan as directed on package.
Stir in remaining ingredients.
Glazed Ham with Dijon-Pineapple Sauce
Ingredients
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup  maple-flavored or pancake syrup
1/4 cup GREY POUPON Dijon Mustard
1 whole  fully cooked boneless ham (5 lb.)
Whole cloves
12   maraschino cherries, halved
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 can  (20 oz.) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
Glazed Ham with Dijon-Pineapple Sauce recipe
Preparation
Heat oven to 350°F.
Mix sugar, syrup and mustard until well blended. Use paring knife to make shallow even diagonal cuts across top of ham in one direction. Repeat, making slits in opposite direction to form diamond shapes.
Insert cloves where cuts meet. Place ham on rack in shallow pan. Place cherries, cut-sides down, on surface of ham.
Bake 2 hours or until ham is heated through, brushing occasionally with 1/2 cup syrup mixture after 1-1/2 hours. About 10 min. before ham is done, mix remaining syrup mixture with cornstarch and pineapple in saucepan; bring to boil on medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir on medium-low heat 5 min. or until thickened.
Slice ham. Serve with sauce.

So From Our Families to Yours, We wish you Happy Holidays and Great New Year !

























  


                                                            

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Top 10 Must Have Holiday Gifts

1. Apple IPad 2 
It's all about the apps, folks. While the Galaxy Tab 10.1 rivals the razor-thin iPad 2 in terms of build quality, Apple has maintained a wide lead in app selection. With 140,000 to choose from, the iPad 2 has become a veritable Swiss Army Knife, and even if you think Android's catalog is vast enough, many developers still write for iOS before they ever turn their attention to Honeycomb. Until Google's ecosystem can match Apple's, this remains the tablet to beat.
2.Amazon Kindle Fire
Hear that? That was the sound of other Android tablet makers taking a big gulp. Though it undercuts its competitors by at least $100, the Fire still manages to offer a high-quality IPS display and a (heavily skinned) version of Android that covers the basics -- email, web surfing, watching movies. What's more, it's closely tied to Amazon's vast empire of books, movies and MP3s, giving it a tighter ecosystem than what most other Android tabs have to offer. Sure, it lacks a camera and anything that qualifies as beefy storage, but with a price that tempting, its value is undeniable.

3.LeapFrog LeapPad Learning Tablet
The LeapPad Explorer Learning Tablet from LeapFrog is an electronic educational gaming system for children aged 4 to 9. It features over 100 activities for young minds in the form of cartridge games, applications, videos, digital books, flash cards, and downloadable content. Parents are given the ability to monitor their children's learning progress, and children find the games to be fun and engaging.
LeapFrog LeapPad Learning Tablet - TOP 10 TOY for KIDS 2011
4.Nikon D7000
Nikon's 16 megapixel D7000 has landed into the world of officialdom with a bang, bringing with it an almighty 39-point autofocus system, 100 percent viewfinder coverage, 1080/24p and 720/30p video options, dual SD card slots, 6fps burst mode for up to 100 shots, and magnesium alloy top and back covers for that extra bit of metalized durability. The continuous video autofocus that debuted in the D3100 is here too, though bear in mind there's a 20 minute cap on uninterrupted recordings. 

5.Wizgloves
Wizgloves let you keep your hands warm while you keep in touch with your device. Wizgloves interacts with your touch screen devices, including iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad and other touch sensitive digital devices.

6. Roku 2 XS
Thanks to a varied range of content offerings--including Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, Crackle, and Pandora--that beats the Apple TV, the Roku 2 XS is the best all-around streaming-media box you can get for less than $100
7. Sony RDP-X500iP speaker dock for IPad or Iphone
Sony's churned out plenty of speaker docks for the smaller iDevices out there, but until now, it hadn't given the largest Apple handheld any love. It's a little late to the party, but the company finally jumped on the iPad bandwagon with its latest RDP-X500iP speaker dock. Sporting a built in subwoofer, magnetic fluid speakers and Sony's Clear Phase DSP sonic technology, this little gem purportedly packs a pretty good bass punch while delivering quality audio.

8.Samsung BD-D5700 Blu-ray player
Sure, it may be 2011, but not everyone owns a Blu-ray player. Or perhaps they need one in another room, or a new model with access to additional entertainment like Netflix streaming. Samsung's BD-D5700 also includes access to the Samsung App portal with a slew of internet content to play, plus compatibility with local media in AVI, MKV, WMV formats, among others.
9.Sony PlayStation 3 Slim Move Bundle (320GB)
 The PS3 Slim Move Bundle is not only an excellent value, but offers an impressive amount of storage space, too. And because the PS3 is such a great media hub, we recommend all the hard-drive space you can get.
10.Animal Planet Air Swimmers
The Air Swimmers are large, helium filled versions of aquatic animals. Currently they come in two varieties, the Air Swimmers Shark and the Air Swimmers Clown Fish. The Air Swimmers have fins and tails that move so fluidly that it's almost like watching an actual fish swimming around in water.
Air Swimmers - TOP 10 TOYS for KIDS Christmas 2011