Photo’s courtesy of guest writer

Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is about 3 weeks away, next it is my favorite month of the year, December… Christmas!!!! Holiday season at the end of the year is always full of fun events, mmmm… I smelled roasted turkey, I smelled Cinnamon, I heard Christmas Carols, I felt colder (with the North bound wind flowing in), I am going to decorate my home with Christmas again. Yippee!!!!

I haven’t had a finished craft tutorial to show you yet but I promised the next one will be from me. It is surely related to Christmas and it is a good one!!! Today, we have Brandon to slot in as a guest writer at Craft Passion while I sneak away to prepare the next sewing tutorial. Brandon Jackson is here to share a dog cookies recipe with us plus some tips to craft for your lovely dog. Dogs, as members of the family deserved the special attention during this holy season too.

[A little about Brandon Jackson: Brandon holds a degree in business communication and works in the insurance industry. He lives in the Rocky Mountain area with his wife, Dawn, and their three children.]

Photo’s courtesy of guest writer

For all the times they’ve waited patiently, tails wagging, wet-nosed, bright eyes shining with love for you to come home and give them love, this year your puppy deserves a Christmas worth barking about. A good dog is a member of the family, and there’s no better excuse than Christmas to pamper and spoil them for all the love and laughter they bring into the home.

A Fetching Feast

Your darling dog may not be able to join the family at the dinner table, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a special seasonal snack of their own, and what’s better than cookies? Darlene Michaud shares her special canine cookie treats recipes below.

• 2 cup cornmeal
• 6 t tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water or broth (chicken or beef)
• 2 cups of whole wheat flour

What you’ll need to make these tasty treats: rolling pin, cookie cutters, and cookie sheet. Simple, right?

Mix the cornmeal and whole wheat flour then add oil and water (or broth). You can also add some food coloring if you want red or green bones (you can spilt the dough and make both colors). Mix the mush with your hands. If it’s too wet, add some more flour. If it’s too dry, add a bit more water (or broth). Don’t be overly concerned about getting it just right. As long as you can roll it out, you’re good! Fido won’t care if it’s perfect or not.

Roll the dough out onto a floured board until it’s about 1/4 inch thick. Then cut shapes with cookie cutters or just cut free hand. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 to 35 minutes (over cooked is better than undercooked). Remove from the oven and let cool. Store in plastic bags and give to dogs for Christmas!

Stalking Woofers

In the era of DIY everything, it’s more fun than ever to create handmade decorations and artisan crafts. This holiday season your pooch can have just as much fun as everyone else when it’s time to unwrap presents. Start with a personalized stocking, which can be selected from custom sites like PersonalCreations.com, or purchased from HobbyLobby.com or other local craft stores. For added charm, buy some felt and puff paint and decorate with paw prints and your beloved pet’s name.

Filling your puppy stocking is even more fun than decorating it! Here are some simple ways to add some pizazz to this year’s top dog gift list:

1. Holiday T-shirt: Make Christmas card photos to create an iron on appliques, press it on a dog onesie, and make the most adorable holiday outfit any dog could hope for.

2. Fluffy toys: find organic squeaky toys for tug-o-war and to snuggle with at night. Tying holiday ribbons around them also gives your furry pal an added extra to play with.

3. New bed: a personalized DIY bed would make your dog the talk of the town. Places like Costco sell plain dog beds that are just begging for some bells and whistles. Using puff paint and felt to personalize your pooch’s bed to match his stocking, add some jingle bells.

When your furry best friend comes bounding into the living room this Christmas, you’re sure to win some lasting memories.

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Buttermilk Scones with almond and cranberry

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Nothing beats the good time of 2 old time buddies meet together to chat, to bake and spend a pleasant late afternoon catching up each other’s updates with some freshly baked scones and a cup of english tea. Life is short and the clock is spinning too fast, a 35 years of friendship passes by just like a blink of eyes.

Mandy, the first friend of mine in the primary school, now my oldest BFF, who is also an utterly talented baker. Today, she is sharing her perfect almond & cranberry scones recipe that she calls it “My Ultimate Scones”, adapted from the recipe book – Delia Smith: How to Cook. I used to love how my mum’s buttermilk scones tastes until I tried Mandy’s…. opps **someone please block my mum’s eyes if she happens to read this**…. well, my mum is still a great baker, especially her breads and cookies. I am lucky to have a chance to learn some baking skill from both of them, hopefully, I will fully utilize my electrical oven when I move into my new home.

I love flaky scones rather than chewy and with lots of buttery smell and taste… Mandy bakes the right scones of my taste bud. After finished her first round of scones, the taste still lingering on my mind and in my tongue… oh my gosh… I miss them so much!!! I told her and she said it is a quick and easy recipe, let her now when I am around her area, she will bake another batch for me to bring some fresh scones home… BFF is always the best!!! Ahemmm… Mandy, a portion is not enough, my family likes the scones too, more people less share… lol

I am hoping Mandy can share more of her mouth-watering baking recipes and photos here…. I need your help, please comment to motivate her to contribute more…. please, please, I ready need your helping hand!!!!

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Bread as a Bowl

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If you love bread dip with chowder, stews or thick curry, this is the right recipe for you…. Bread Bowl.

Bread Bowl is a round loaf of bread with thick and crispy crust like French Loaf (Baguette), which has had the middle cut out to create an edible bowl. Add in your favorite, chicken curry with potatoes as shown in the photo, for instance, serve as main meal or as snack. Dip the cut out bread with the curry and eat, after that, you can eat the bread bowl to finish off the whole dish. A bowl less to clean up and wash, gheeee….. less work, less waste water, less dish wash to use and more environmental friendly

As some of you might have known, I don’t have an oven to bake. I baked this bread bowl at my mom’s house and off course with some helping hands from her. After all the baking and great time learning tips from her, I went home with a box of bread bowls, ready to serve my family with curry from my mom’s recipe too.

Get the recipe to bake some bread bowls for your family and friends on the next page. Enjoy!!!!

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Steamed Sponge Cake in Cranberries and Lemon Zest Flavor

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Usually, when I craved for cake I will either go to buy one from bakery shop or bake one at my mom’s house. But, during the weekend, I was hit by the mood of steaming cake at home. If you know me well or have read through some of my stories here, you will know that I don’t have an oven for food. I do have an oven for craft but not for food… lol, but hubby promised me to get me a fully equipped kitchen when we move to a new home. Hope it is a soon to happen dreams come true…..

Back to the cake…. I have got this recipe from a local baker’s recipe book: Magic Steamed Cake, by Alex Goh, ISBN #: 978-967-5413-35-5, the original name for this recipe is Lemon Angel Cake. It is a meringue based sponge cake and I find it quite healthy as it has used only little oil in it. Since I have all the ingredients in hand, I gave it a try. Due to the recipe is made by steaming, I already predicted that the cake won’t come out as fluffy as a baked cake. Well, I am glad that my assumption is not quite right, it is still fluffy but a little denser due to moisture it has in it. The cake has to be served fresh, the longer you keep, the denser it will be.

Since it has to be served fresh, a mini cake will be the right portion for a small family. Smaller cake is easier to steam too. I modified the recipe a little, then, halve the portion.

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1. Valentines Day Cookies with Buttercream Frosting at Tidymom.
2. Simply Dotty Valentines Cookies at Sweet Sugar Belle.
3. Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies at Two Peas And Their Pod.
4. Valentines Jello Hearts at The Hungry Housewife.
5. Oreo Cookie Love Bug at Snap.
6. Red Velvet Valentine’s Macarons at Delectable Deliciousness.
7. Heart Spinkle Valentine Macarons at Bubble And Sweet.
8. Marbled Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies at The Novice Chef.
9. Double-decker, Stripey, Valentine Cookies at Bake At 350.
10. Sweet Heart Shortbread at Diamonds For Dessert.
11. Sweets for my sweetie pie at Bits Of Taste.
12. Valentines Twinkies on a Stick at Confessions Of a Cookbook Queen.
13. Glass Topper Valentines Cookies at Cookies And Cups.
14. Valentine Cake Pop at National Geographic.
15. How to Make Valentine’s Day Marshmallow Pops at Mommy Gaga.
16. Valentine Sugar Cubes at Craft Passion.
17. Egg In A Basket at Food 4 Tots.
18. How to make a heart shaped egg at Anna The Red.
19. Heart Shaped Cinnamon Bun at Craft And Creativity.
20. Valentine Roasted Potatoes at Haniela’s.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Hot Mocha Truffles Recipes

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I have got the idea of making these Hot Cafe Mocha Truffles after stumbled upon this recipe [come with step by step photo as well]. And, if you want to make some for kids, you can make the Hot Chocolate Truffles version by using the original recipe.

I find it rather convenient to make different flavors of hot cafe mocha with these truffles. Make some with your favorite choice of flavors. Pick your truffle of the day, drop it into a glass of hot milk and stir, you will have your hot cafe mocha in no time.

Sipping my glass of hot mocha in hazelnut flavor while writing this recipe, yum yum!!!

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Recipe: Sweet Potato Soup

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Sweet Potato soup (蕃薯糖水) in ginger syrup is a typical Asian sweet dessert soup. It is very easy and quick to prepare and cook with literally no failure at all. The dessert soup is sweet along with the fragrant of sweet potato and ginger, and just like ginger tea, it is a little spicy.

With the high soluble fiber content of the sweet potato, it helps to ease some minor indigestion especially after the heavy eating during the festive season. Not to mention the wholesome goodness of nutrients in the sweet potato. Whilst, another ingredient – ginger, is a traditional remedy to cure bloating caused by flatulence. If you are in colder weather, ginger can help to warm your body too.
[Read more about the nutrient about Sweet Potato, here.]
[Read more on the goodness of ginger, here.]

In olden days, there were only Orange or plain white sweet potatoes in the market. The color of the syrup soup used to be clear if using white sugar or white rock sugar. Now, with the new color of purple added in the market, we are able to cook a tri-color sweet potato dessert soup, and the syrup soup color turns out to be purple or darker brown instead. Colorful, isn’t it?

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Strawberry Jam Recipe

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Making your own strawberry jam is easy with 3 simple ingredients, and you can adjust the taste to your preference. My family loves the jam to be soft & easy spread, with mild sweetness and a little lemony. This is the recipe if you prefer your jam to be this way too. And, this recipe has no added gelatin and pectin.

My daughter told me that my jam taste just like the store bought jam but with more fragrance. She is right, that’s because I used rock sugar instead of normal white sugar.

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Recipe: Chicken Curry with Potatoes

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Cooking for family is not an easy task, which I only realized it after leaving home for education advancement, and, again when I have my own family. My mum used to cook at least 2 meals with 2 – 3 dishes a day during the weekdays. A good collection of recipes is important in order to keep the everyday diners happily and welly fed. I can feel the stress of being a full-time cook for the family and I haven’t had the gut to take up the job yet. Before I am ready for the job, I need to build up my recipe collection, practice till they are perfected. Luckily, I have a supportive husband and kids, they always said that I have the talent in cooking because they like what I cook even if it is for the first try. May be it is because I learned the tips and secrets from my mum during the up-bringing as I have to help in the kitchen.

I hope you like this curry chicken with potatoes which is mildly spice (depends on the spicy level of the fresh chillies) and creamy in taste and texture.

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Perfect Jack O’ Lanterns And A tips About Orange at Sweet Sugar Belle

I adore cute edible crafts, just like beautiful handmade crafts, nicely decorated treats and food make me really happy and pleased.

Lately, I have been a frequent visitor to Sweet Sugar Belle’s blog after I fall in love to her beautiful flip-flop cookies guest posted at Tidymom. I admire her skill in cookies decoration with royal icing. Look at the Jack ‘O Lantern cookies she made, I am sure you will agree with me.

As you know that I started to cook and bake not long ago, along, set-up a recipes section in Craft Passion. I would like to take this opportunity to share some Halloween treats recipes I adored and wanted to try. I should be able to handle those easy and quick edible crafts like dip pops, but…. cookies and cakes in royal icing and fondant decoration which need some practices and skills… I need time to master the skill, should not be this year, may be next year!!! Wish me luck, pleaseeeee…. and next year you should be able to see some from my creations.

Look at all these beautiful Halloween party treats, how can I not share their recipes and the methods to make them here with you….. Wish you a Happy Halloween!!! Yum…yum….Boo… boo..

Monster Cake at Makoodle.

Ghost Meringue Cupcakes With Oreo Dirt at Jenny Steffens Hobick.

Halloween Pumpkin Pancakes With Black Cinnamon Syrup at Tidymom.

Black Widow Chocolate Rum Cupcakes at 6 Bittersweets.

Oreo Mummies Cookies Pop at How Does She.

Meringue Ghosts at Joy Of Baking.

Halloween Lunch In Muffin Tin at Another Lunch.

Frankenstein Rice Krispies Treat at Snack Picks.

Witch Hat Appetizers at Hungry Happenings.

Chocolate Spider Cupcakes at Kaboose Recipes.

Gingerbread Skeleton at Family Fun Recipes.

Tombstone Cookies with Dark Chocolate Graveyard Pots de Crème at My Recipes.

Witch Wands at Our Best Bites.

Rice Krispie Bar Ghosts at The Idea Room.

Skeleton Cupcakes at Woman’s Day.