Over the years I’ve come to find that guacamole is one of those things you don’t really need a recipe for. Depending on how simple you want to keep it, you more than likely won’t need more than just a few basic ingredients you’ve probably already got in your pantry.

My favorite way to make guacamole is to dice up about three ripe avocados. Put two of the avocados in a bowl and mash fairly well, and then gently mix in the third diced one. This gives in a great texture, and I can’t think of anything better than getting a …read more

Today being National Fortune Cookie Day, I figured I’d dig up a recipe for making your own fortune cookies at home!

As we’ve learned over the years, the fortune cookie is mostly an American creation (said to have been based on a popular Japanese cracker) but it has become such a part of an Asian meal that it would be hard to imagine take-out without a crunchy cookie at the end of it. The fortunes themselves range from actual fortunes to catchy sayings (and some are actually unfortunate!), and some include “lucky” lottery numbers as well.
Fortune cookies are so awesome (in …read more

Definitely one of the easiest things to whip up on your own, iced coffee is a refreshing mid-day pick-me-up that requires hardly any effort.
For the longest time I stuck with buying mine, though. A sugar-free iced vanilla latte from Starbucks hit the spot, until recently when the location close by began tasting bland and overly sweet at the same time. I tried one of McDonald’s iced coffees, and ended up throwing 90% of it away because it tasted like dishwater.
So, I’ve struck out on my own. I picked up a bottle of DaVinci sugar-free vanilla syrup at the store, …read more

I’ve always wanted to bake my own bread. I just love the smell of baking bread whenever I pass my favorite bakeshop in the mall nearest us. Wanting to bake my own bread further intensified when a good friend started baking her own bread because of her children’s allergies.
Now I really want one and I’m so glad I was able to get one through a redemption from Fly Buys — one of New Zealand’s points earning scheme where you earn points when you purchase from any of their affiliated companies.
Gotta love ‘freebies’ especially during these hard economic times.
Here’s the breadmaker …read more

Not too long ago my family and I were watching something on the Food Network about ice cream. One of the many different varieties they tried was cake ice cream — that is, ice cream that tastes like a cake.
I love playing with my ice cream maker and decided I was going to see if I could give this a shot. I couldn’t find any recipes that appealed to me on their own, so I took a few ideas from the ones I found and made my own:
Cake Ice Cream
1/2 cup Egg Beaters (or 2 eggs)
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups heavy …read more

 Handmade Gifts
 I grew up in the era of handmade or homemade gifts.  Sometimes this was because we and our relatives didn’t have the money to purchase many from the store or mail order catalog.  Often it simply was because we liked to make something special and the recipients enjoyed these gifts.
 In later years, when I had a family, we made gifts for my mom and for my mother-in-law as well as others.  One Christmas, my daughter Beth stitched my mother a lap quilt.  Mother always had enjoyed quilts although she hadn’t made any since she was a child. 
 She seemed to enjoy this gift, even though she had …read more