With only twenty more days until Christmas, I thought it was time to showcase some of our favorite things here at Parkesdale!  Without further ado, here’s Parkesdale Christmas Gift Guide:

Strawberry Cookies Gift Basket

Our Strawberry Cookies Gift Basket offers a beautiful Holiday theme metal tin full with our delicious home made Strawberry Cookies, Strawberry Bread and our famous Strawberry Preserves.  This basket retails for $33.90 (includes shipping in the continental US).

Taste of Parkesdale

The Taste of Parkesdale features our five signature items.  Have you heard of Strawberry Butter?  Our seedless Strawberry butter is delicious on toast or a bagel.  Our No Sugar Added strawberry preserves is made with whole strawberries.  And who can’t resist our cutest jar, our famous Strawberry Preserves are a long time family favorite.  New to the mix are our Strawberry Salsa with its’ surprising kick and chunks of berries and our Strawberry Dressing.  This gift retails for $45.90 (includes shipping) and can be gift wrapped in a basket.

Red Navels

Our “Beauty of the Ball”, these deliciously juicy red navels are only available in December.  Their sweet taste will have you begging for more.  Starting at $31.95 (plus $10.95 shipping) these would make the perfect gift for small and big families alike.

Parkesdale Sampler

If you are looking for variety at a great price, then look no further.  Our Parkesdale Sampler comes with Ruby Red Grapefruit, Navel Oranges and Nova Tangelos for $25.95 (plus $10.95 shipping).

In the spirit of Christmas, we will give away one of these items to four lucky readers!  Enter our Rafflecopter Giveaway here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Today I learned Butternut Squash is technically a fruit because it has seeds.  Butternut squash is low in fat, rich in phytonutrients, antioxidants, high in potassium, vitamin B6 and folate.  While we usually roast it at home, I decided to add it to our beef soup recipe and the results were fantastic.

To pick a good butternut squash, look for a hard, light-tan, unblemished one that feels heavy for its size.  If the outside rind looks too shiny, then it probably was picked too early and won’t be as sweet as a full grown squash.  To store and keep fresh, store whole in a cool, dry place, outside of the refrigerator.  Butternut squash will keep for 3 months.

To make the recaito, you need a blender or a food processor.  Add four garlic cloves, a couple of culantro leaves, a cup of cilantro, one chopped green bell pepper and half of a medium sized onion.  There are many ways to make it, if you can’t find culantro, you may double the cilantro.  Pulse in the blender or food processor until pureed.  Season with salt and keep refrigerated.  Enjoy!

As a mom of two little ones, we spend about 30 minutes after school going through their homework packets during the week.  In addition, I’ve purchased extra booklets to practice math and reading skills for both girls.  After watching this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

about Changing Education Paradigms, I was inspired to bring math learning to a different level at home without pen and paper.  So instead, we used spoons and cup measurements to do our math.  I figured the reward of cupcakes would keep the girls entertained.

After everything was baked and frosted, the kitchen was a mess and I still need to mop the floor, but the best part of having the girls help in making the cupcakes was seeing their reactions when tasting the mixes at different times.  They both thought the pumpkin puree was gross.  They enjoyed licking the sticky molasses off the measuring cups with their fingers.

I’m not sure which part they liked best, the cupcake mixture or the whipped cream cheese frosting.  But I’m definitively glad they liked the cupcakes once they were all done.  While I could barely taste the ginger in the cupcakes, Piper was the first one to deem the cupcakes too spicy.  However, once she got the cupcake with the frosting, it no longer tasted spicy.

I’m not going to lie.  Having the girls help in the kitchen is definitively something new to me.  It was a little more troublesome than it would have been if I had done it myself.  But in retrospect, I think this is something I’m going to try to incorporate to our family routine.  I got them to think about math in real life situations and not just on paper and they ate pumpkin!