I remember making these with my kids for various members of our family as inexpensive Christmas gifts. As the jar is filled with pre-measured dry ingredients for cookies, all the recipient has to do is add the wet ingredients and bake.

Other versions could include muffins in a jar or hot chocolate in a jar. You can use any spare jar and make it look pretty with extra ribbon, tags and ornaments.

This is the kind of recipe that uses what's left in the pantry at the end of the week to create a tasty dish. Most Italian kitchens have all these ingredients always at hand: olive oil, olives, garlic, capers, anchovies and tomatoes... There are many theories on the origins of the name of the dish, but as I remember, it's just a frugal way to make do with what is available! Global Cuisine

On a recent sugar-craving marathon, I recalled my breakfast and holiday memories in Vietnam of this fellow heart-warming dish - sweet sticky rice assorted in the vivid red of gac fruit, bathed in the tang of full-cream coconut milk, and marinated in granulated white sugar. Eat this alone, or as a combo with some pork cake, mung bean paste, or coconut shreds, all work!

Grandma frequently made kluski, but not often enough, according to the family! They wanted it for every meal, including Christmas. I used to make it while I was going to college, but I substituted bacon for the pork shoulder. That was when I learned, from my great-aunt, that bacon is cheating! Unfortunately, there are those in the family who haven't fallen for kluski's charms. My husband refers to it as "fish bait". Oh, well, more for me!

Quick and tasty lemon cheesecake.

For the Global cuisine challenge.

A bit about the traditional Cornish pasty, for the Global Cuisine design challenge!

A decadent and rich chocolatey goodness that’s easy to make. With only 5 steps and 6 ingredients it’s been my go to recipe on those cold winter nights I crave chocolate!!

One of my favourite Middle Eastern dishes of all time. There are just about as many variations of this dish as there are ways to spell it. Here's my tangy take on this classic dish. Hope you enjoy, too!

A sweet dream in pink, red and white and very simple to make – it just hast to be spring when the strawberries are full of flavour. Legend has it that this desert was invented in Eton where a small shop offered it to the students from 1930 onwards. I like that it doesn’t require any skills, just make a nice mess and indulge!

Southern Fried Apples for the Global Cuisine Challenge.
This winter recipe comes from my part of the world, the mountains of the Southern USA. These sweet fried apples are an easy and comforting dish to whip up on a cold evening, and the cinnamon gives them a warm holiday flavor. Our family loves to eat them as a side dish to pork, roasted vegetables, or bacon and eggs. I created this illustrated recipe with watercolor, oil pastels, colored pencil, and digital media. The title lettering was created by my mom Shelley in watercolor, ink, and digital media, and was inspired by the iconic print shop Hatch in Nashville, TN.

Russia is known for her snowy and cold weather most of the time. And in order to eat fruits and vegetables during the winter, Russians love to make a preserved cucumbers,tomatos, mushrooms, pepers and every desert includes home made jam.
I remember my mother used to do lots of preserved vegies and cook many sorts of jams from different fruits we gathered during the summer. And in a snowy winter we used to sit around the table, drink a hot tea and eat our treasures from the summer.

Global Cuisine

When I was a kid, I loved all the Christmas smells and scents coming from the kitchen! From the french toast that we would eat for breakfast to the delicious roasted chicken, not the boiled cabbages (ugh), the house smelled like cinnamon, spices, and pine. I called my mom to ask for her Drunken Pears recipe because the Holidays are coming and I want to fill my house with those smells from my childhood. Except that now I might eat the pears instead of just drinking the hot syrup, like when I was kid :D
For the Global cuisine challenge.

One of the most convincing combinations of simplicity and tastefulness is the Spanish version of breakfast: toasted bread, soaked with olive oil and topped with fresh tomato puree + salt is the perfect way to begin a day. It has everything: crunchy, warm, fruity, fresh and healthy – and with an extra slice of jamon iberico it is a delicacy.

Beautiful and classic, heart warming and festive a wonderful mix of a good old bourbon with some sparkly holiday special!