New Year Resolution

Like most people, I made some New Year resolutions, and the one that I felt I should blog about was my resolution to collect all the recipes I have into one cookbook. I know that I have quite a few, so I've decided that it's going to be a year-long project. There are many ways to go about this, one being to buy a blank cookbook at a bookstore and write them in yourself. This can be time-consuming but at the same time, it can be a pastime and a wonderful thing to pass on to your children. Another option would be to make a scrapbook of all the recipes. Again, this is time-consuming, and I've found that it's better for those recipes that have a story behind them. For example, maybe you have the same meal at one event every year, or some story with friends inspired you to create a recipe.
While these are both wonderful options, I don't really have the time to do either one of these. But this will not stop me from fulfilling my resolution because I have found a website to help me in my endeavors. It's Tastebook.com. I believe I read about it at Culinate.com, a website that joins a lot of blogs about food. So, I decided to check it out and, to my delight, I found that not only can you buy cookbooks, but you can also create your own! Once you creat an account, you can immediately start typing in all of your own recipes and then you save them in a folder, which contains all the recipes for your cookbook. Each book can hold up to 100 recipes giving you plenty of room, and then you simply order is from the site, and it's mailed to your door. Another wonderful aspect is that fact that you have access to thousands of recipes from their website, many of which came from Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines.
With this site I hope to create my own cookbook with a little more ease and a little more time. Check it out, I think you'll love the website and it will inspire you to create your own cookbook.

Marshmallow

I love the Christmas season, and I'm very sad to see it go. I love to be able to make cookies and dinners for my friends and family, but one thing that I had never done before was make marshmallows. Now, I love hot chocolate, in fact I'm very picky about it. One thing I believe that makes hot chocolate are really good marshmallows. So, I decided that I wanted to try and make my own, and I have found that they are much easier than I originally thought.
Basically, it's a mixture of sugar, water, and corn syrup that's been heated to 240 degrees. It's slowly added to powdered gelatin that's mixed with water. This is beat in a mixer for 12 to 15 minutes, and during the last minute of mixing you can add flavor with vanilla or some other flavoring. You can also add some food coloring. This warm mixture is spread in a 9 X 13 pan that's been prepared with a powdered sugar and cornstarch mixture. It needs to set for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Once the marshmallows are set you can cut them with a knife or scissors. To make sure that they don't stick, you mix them with more of the sugar and cornstarch mixture.
I brought these to work with hot chocolate and some peppermint bonbon cookies. They were a hit! I hope that one day you will try making your own marshmallows; you will enjoy them tremendously!