Carnival of Recipes: Holiday Gift Giving Edition

As the holidays near, it is time to think about gift giving. If you are like me, home-made gifts strike your fancy. I love being able to give gifts in a jar to all my neighbors and co-workers.

This year, I gave Chicken Soup in a Jar. (Last year, I did Potato Soup in a Jar). In a time of rampant commercialism, homemade gifts add thought and care back into holiday gifts and often help our bottom line (that checkbook!).

We also need more recipes as the number of parties we have to bring food to increase and we are looking for something new to impress our friends (or co-workers or bosses) with. Making your party offerings yourself often make the choices better and cheaper!

Enjoy all these holiday gift and recipe ideas from your blogging friends!

Packaged Gifts to Give Away
Like my own jar gifts, these are perfect gifts to make and give away!

• Straight from the Farm shares her homemade tea packages (so cute!)
• Unclaimed Money shares ideas on making your own hot drink mixes
• Chief Family Officer gives a recipe for hot chocolate mix (this didn’t say you could give it away, but it would be easy to attach a label and do so – or you can just make it yourself, like I do with my chai tea mix.)
• Pancake Recipes offers up Cinnamon Pancakes in a Jar
• Try Peanut Butter Criss Cross Cookies in A Jar from World Famous Recipes
• Chicken Recipes shares her version of Chicken Soup in a Jar (for you to compare with mine!)

Cookie and Treat Giveaways
We all know that everyone loves to give and receive cookies this time of year and it is always fun to add some new ones to your repertoire as you often have to bring things to the same parties and people and we can use a little variety!

• Double Chocolate Cherry Thumbprints from Men in Aprons (Adam reports that despite calorie complaints, these quickly disappeared!)
• Dark and White Chocolate Chips with Cranberries from The Expatriate’s Kitchen are a way to bring a light offering
• Christmas Sugar Cookies from The Ringpop Bride
• Stop the Ride shares ideas on what and how to dip various foods in chocolate (a little chocolate always makes it better right?)

Recipes to Share with Friends
Looking for a new recipe to share at that office party or to take to a friend’s house for Christmas? Sick of bringing the same thing – try some of these interesting recipes!

Add some ethnic diversity to your offering:

• Eggplant Moussaka from Join Them
• Mushroom Dumplings from Sugar Laws (Katy has been working to recreate her dumpling experience in China so definitely check these out)
• Beef and Guinness Soup from Busy Bee Lifestyle
• English Christmas Trifle from Christmas Recipes

For some more traditional fare:

• Crockpot Chunky Apple Butter from Slow Cooker Recipes
• Organic One Egg Cake from the Organic Test Kitchen
• Tennessee Christmas Cake from the Recipe Bank
• Homemade Cheese Balls from The Common Room (who tells us this is a great way to save some money)

Other Topics and Recipes
A few other submissions I felt like including this week.

The Weight Loss Dude shares his homemade beef broth recipe and Disease Proof offers some great brunch recipes options.

Upcoming Editions

You can check out all the upcoming editions of the carnival of recipes at Everything and Nothing. Next week will at http://everythingandnothing.typepad.com/ and is themed "A Christmas Tea." The deadline is next Saturday night (December 15th) and you can submit your entries straight to recipe.carnival@gmail.com or you can use the blog carnival submission button.