With so much people running around malls these days around the Xmas season, sometimes it’s not about how much you spend on gifts, but how heartfelt a present can be. What can be more heartfelt than a gift you make yourself?
Here are a few ideas you can easily make in your kitchen and that for sure, won’t get re-gifted.
You can make a few batches of this easily and bottle them in clean water bottles. Add a bow and it makes a great hostess gift for any Xmas party.
This is a dessert anyone will love – It’s vegan, gluten-free and super easy to make. Give it away in disposable containers and it makes a great dessert to bring to that holiday party.
Cranberry Sauce is mostly eaten at Thanksgiving, but package it in glass jars, but a bow around it and call it Cranberry Preserves and makes a great gift for an office crew.
This is even simpler to make when you buy almonds already peeled… it’s a great snack for a night of drinks with friends and even to bring to that family gathering to have a little something to nibble on before dinner.
Make an extra batch of that Coquito you made for a party and churn it into the best holiday ice cream ever!!!! This is a gift from you to yourself.
Taro Root Fritters are perfect all by themselves…
However they can become so much more if you dip them into something – like a Mayo Mustard Dipping Sauce. I use Vegenaise Mayo and to me, because I haven’t bought traditional mayo in such a long time, I believe this tastes as creamy and decadent as if made with any homemade mayo.
You can make as little or as much as you want… but here are some proportions for you so you get the drift…
VEGAN MAYO MUSTARD DIPPING SAUCE
¼ cup Vegenaise vegan mayo 1 tbs horseradish mustard, but your favorite mustard will work here Pinch of Kosher Salt Sprinkle of Sweet Paprika
And if you’re not into mustard, you can always go to our trusted Puerto Rican staple, MayoKetchup. Right??
This is a recipe featured in Qué Rica Vida – the Spanish-language community site featuring great recipes from a variety of bloggers, including Karma Free Cooking.
Viandas, as we call them in Spanish or at least in Puerto Rico, are part of the staples in Caribbean gastronomy. Viandas are a variety of root vegetables and edible tubers which form part of our diet since the times of the Taíno Indians, Puerto Rico’s first inhabitants.
Malanga or Taro Root is one of my favorite viandas… It has a sweet taste and its speckled lilac interior is very pretty. These are particularly popular in Hawaiian cuisine in the form of poi, a mashed version of taro root.
Typically, viandas are boiled in salted water and eaten with various accompaniments, and their starchy consistency makes them perfect to make into fritters. The perfect example of this is Alcapurrias. But we don’t always have the time to make a filling, make the masa, fill the alcapurrias and fry them. So this fritter is a great short-cut to get the payoff of a fritter without a lot of work. You can read the whole recipe in Spanish in Qué Rica Vida here.
TARO ROOT FRITTERS
1 pound of raw taro root, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 1 tsp sofrito 2 garlic cloves, peeled 1 tsp salt A pinch of freshly cracked black pepper (optional)
You can enjoy these fritters on their own… or with a delicious vegan mayo and mustard dipping sauce. This recipe makes about 24 fritters.
KarmaFree Cooking 