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Go to the Deli, give them all
your money.
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Make "wreath" pancakes and serve
with strawberry syrup. (wreath pancakes are silver dollar
sized, served in a circle to look like a wreath)
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Make veggie "wreath". Run down
to the grocery store, buy a bag of those expense pre-cut finger veggies,
a couple of red and green bell peppers, cherry tomatoes and a bottle of
Ranch salad dressing. Place bowl in middle of platter, surround with
green veggies (broccoli, celery, green bell peppers...) Next toss on some
red veggies (tomatoes, red bell pepper) A few nice pieces of cauliflower
to brighten things up.
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Tell that co-worker that always
brings that good stuff to the office, "I was telling my friend about that
wonderful _____ you made last month. I'll give you $_____ if you can make
one for ______night."
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Use pointed paper cups for making
lime gelatin "trees." Cut away paper when mold is firm and decorate with
cream cheese or Cool whip.
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Another great invention was
"Almond Bark", cheap and good tasting. If your budget can't handle the
price of chocolate morsels, almond bark makes a great substitute for dipped
items. While most of us see the "chocolate" and "white chocolate" varieties,
if you look hard there is also a butterscotch flavor. Between theses three,
you can be the hit of the pot luck. My personal favorite is dipped pretzels.
Melt bark, dip, and place on either foil or waxed paper. Then melt a different
flavor, pour into a plastic sandwich back, cut corner, and drizzle over
pretzels.
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Another thing you can do with
your almond bark is simply melt and add goodies, pour on to a piece of
foil, and break up into serving size pieces. Some of my favorites are:
Chocolate Bark with raisins
or nuts
White Bark with chopped
up jellied candies (I use red, green and yellow)
Then of course I use both
with Rice Krispy cereal, you might call it a home made "Crunch" bar.
If you have the time crush
some hard peppermint candies, and mix in to either the flavor.
If you are really in a hurry,
and cutting the budget, simply melt any two flavors, at the same time (different
containers) pour onto foil and swirl together, simple but looks and tastes
great.
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The good ole "Dump Cake". Dump
two cans of fruit pie filling, top with dry yellow cake mix, place pieces
of butter across the top. Toss in the oven.
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The Snack Tree, use a styrofoam
conical form, cover it with green paper. Use toothpicks with vegetables
and edibles, such as cheese cubes, cherry tomatoes, grapes, cauliflower,
green pepper, carrot slices, etc. to cover it. Serve with a dip.
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Orange Sips: Roll an orange
between your hands till soft. Use a knife and cut an "X" in the orange.
Insert a porous peppermint stick in the "X" and sip away!
Shipping
Tips Bar,
drop and fruit cookies travel the best. Avoid fragile and rolled cookies,
they may arrive as crumbs.
Use a heavy packing box.
Line with waxed paper, and use tons of filler, like crumpled newspaper,
shredded paper, bubble wrap, or peanuts.
Wrap each cookie in waxed
paper, the follow this order for packing:
1 layer of filler
1 sheet of waxed paper
1 layer of cookies
1 layer of filler
1 sheet of waxed paper
1 layer of cookies
and so on.
Fill any empty space with
filler.
Cross your fingers, and grab
the rabbit's foot, and a good prayer never hurts.
Take to the carrier:
Post office is the cheapest
and slowest
UPS is a little faster but
costs more
FedX is even faster, but
a much higher shipping rate.
Now for your trick of
the day, I did this one a coouple of years ago. If shipping overseas,
and the person lives near a larger airport. Check with the different airlines
that go there. The term is "counter to counter". To give you an idea of
the time and money saved:
Little Rock AR to Santa
Cruz Bolivia for a 14 pound box
FedX $278 not next day
UPS $165 not next day
Post office too slow, takes
weeks and unable to track
American Airlines $85, dropped
it off at 2pm was there at 9:05 the next morning!
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