Easter Food Hacks! "Pie-Jacking" your Deserts Easily!

 

Easter is a fun time of year, it signifies the start of Spring and children's laughter as they gleefully hunt for Easter eggs.  The pastel plastic eggs, bunny ears and baskets dominate the grocery store aisles.   This year I have been incredibly busy and I just started putting together the Easter  dinner menu with recipes on Facebook.  Usually I go a little overboard, homemade coconut cake, carrot cake and  at least 2 pies from scratch!  I am still making the carrot cake, but my other deserts have changed!

 

This year I found out about a new food in town and it isn't on the dinner menu- in fact, it's hijacking all the deserts on my list.  Inspired by the latest food trend, I am "pie-jacking" other popular foods and deserts this Spring for an incredible pie embellishments and a  mash-up dessert sensation! 

 

 

It all starts with Marie Callender's  pies, because they use high-quality ingredients to create meals and desserts that smell and taste just like homemade so that your family can slow down and savor together.  My Easter desert's will never be the same!  I "pie-jacked" their chocolate cream pie.  It already has special touches like made-from-scratch lattice crust and hand-placed chocolate curls to help make them look just like homemade.  All I did, was get vanilla wafers, chocolate frosting and chocolate eggs and Voila!  Flowers on the pie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    This spring, add your own special touch to your Marie Callender’s pie – from a fun topping to using it as the base for a customized dessert mash-up – to enhance any family occasion.  Check out these creations I found on their website.

  Find more tips on the Marie Callender’s Meals Facebook page or MarieCallendersMeals.com.
#Easterdeserts #Eastermenu #Eastermenu

Cooking Allergy Free Foods- for Friends and Family

If you look at my Facebook page, you will see my love language is cooking!  It's a way for me to show people I care about them and make them feel special.  Mama Mia!  I grew up in an Italian neighborhood and the dinners were huge gatherings with a lot of leftovers.   I always cook for an army, and send home a lot of left overs, too!    No one ever went hungry in Little Italy or at my house.  In fact, guests ate whatever dessert, bread or pasta placed before them, with a passion and appreciation!


Times have changed, and so have the dietary needs of my guests.  Years ago, no one talked about Gluten-free foods, or Peanut-free desserts.  In fact, when my children were in school, baked goods for bake sales, holiday parties and special teachers were appreciated.  Now they are refused and sent back home. 


I have also  noticed more and more dinner guests are declining the deserts and breads I have offered at a meal.  In fact, I learned the foods I baked were unhealthy for people with food allergies! Gluten is not good for someone with Celiac Disease.  Lately, people with other food allergies, like Dairy or Peanut allergies started passing on my desserts also! 

Feeling a little overwhelmed for the next holiday meal, I stumbled across www.cherrybrookkitchen.com  they were like an answer to a prayer!  Currently, you can find their products at Whole Foods, Wegmans, Target and Health stores.  If your store doesn't carry it, just ask the store manager to order it!  Stores love fulfilling their customer's needs.

They have;
Brownies, carrot cake, cookies, pancakes, waffles, yellow cake, frostings and more!

 

Be sure to check out some of these Easter Recipes from Cherry Brook Kitchens!

 

 

Cake Mix

 

Cookie

 

 

 

For more information go to www.cherrybrookkitchen.com

 

#cherrybrookkitchen  #glutenfree  #allergyfree 

#peanutfree   #dairy free. #lauradellutri  #glutenfreecarrotcake

 

 

COUGH AND COLD SEASON PREVENTION TIPS - AT HOME and WORK

It's that time of year again, cough and cold germs are everywhere!  You don't want to walk around wiping every surface at home and work with an antibacterial wipe.  However, if someone in my home or office has been sneezing and coughing, I will sanitize high traffic surfaces more than once.

Did you know a person's sneeze travel at about 100 miles per hour?   Patti Wood, author of Success Signals: Understanding Body Language says so.  She also adds that a single sneeze can send 100,000 germs into the air. Yuk!  I cringe at how many times someone has sneezed on me accidentally!

Touching germs and ingesting them through our eyes (rubbing the eyes), nose (inhaling through nasal passages) or mouth (putting fingers in your mouth) can trigger an illness we do not want. 

What's the easiest way to avoid getting sick?  Proper hand washing is the single most effective way to stop the spreading of germs and keeping you well!  Make sure you use soap, warm water and do it for at least 20 seconds. 

                                                      Wash your hands after touching;

• Door handles. Because they are one of the most touched surfaces.     
• Community tables. Whether it is in a conference room, waiting area or in an employee cafeteria, table surfaces.
• Elevators. Touched daily by employees or guests, elevator buttons can be a likely source for virus transmission.      
• Community benches and chairs. Because they are designated for sitting, sick people can leave their germs there.
• Light switches.  These are commonly missed on cleaning.           
• Drinking fountains. Drinking fountains can become contaminated by a variety of germs from the user’s mouth and hands.     
• Railings. Located alongside stairs or at the top of an atrium or overlook, railings and conveyor handrails at airports, can be touched by 100's or 1000's of people a day.

For More Information:

http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/index.html

#coughandcoldprevention #coldandflutips #stayingheallth

#coughandcoldtips  #handwashingtips #germsonsurfaces #wheregermslinger

     

Holiday Entertaining Tips!

5 Star VIP Guest Room- PAMPER your guests!

#bedroom #guestroom #5starentertaining #lauradellutri  #lifehacks

November starts the Holiday Shopping Season! I love these VTECH toys for kids!

Halloween Cleaning Tips!

Halloween Cleaning Tips- So You Don’t

Frighten Your Guests Away!

Halloween Parties are the one time of the year cobwebs are seasonably in fashion!   I love this time of year, Caramel apples, apple cider and candy!   Busy people like myself, can hardly find the time to clean, let alone throw a Halloween party or trick or treat get together!. It's no secret, people tend to judge our home by the way it looks and smells. 

When entertaining this Halloween, we all want out homes to look as impressive as possible, because it is a nice reflection on us and it makes the guests feel more comfortable. Sometimes I wish I was "Bewitched" and all I had to do was look cute and twinkle my nose and the whole house would be clean!  If you feel overwhelmed at times when it comes to cleaning up your home, this month's 5 easy tips focus on what your guests will see!  Don't worry about cleaning closets and organizing drawers, guests don't even notice them!
I like to  decorate my house to look frightfully spooky and incredibly fun at the same time.  However, those REAL cobwebs, where REAL spiders live really need to come down out of our corners and ceilings so we really "don't" frighten the guests away!   If you think you can skip the cleaning and let the cobwebs stay up for a little more ambience, rest assured your guests will know the difference between artificial cobwebs used to decorate and real cobwebs that you just have neglected to clean! 

 

Follow these quick tips so your guests feel like they are in a "Boo"tiful home!

Cleaning before the Company comes!---Here's the Five Signs of a Clean Home!

1. What Guests SEE.   Do a visual sweep of the room with your eyes.  Stand at your front entry door and look around the room, what looks cluttered and untidy?  Be sure to straighten couch pillows, remove clutter like shoes, magazines and messy shelves. 

Guests see your floors the minute they enter  your home.  A dirty floor says, "dirty house" to guests!  Keep your floors clean in just minutes with Quick Shine® Multi-Surface Spray Mop   It cleans better than a traditional mop and bucket!  With the cleaner on board you can spray your way to clean in minutes.   . 

2. What Guests can FEEL.  Do your floors feel dirty on gritty on your bare feet?   If so, use the Quick Shine Hardwood Floor mop dry to give you a clean you can feel, it does clean better than a traditional broom and dustpan.


 3.  What Guests TOUCH.  Pass the white glove test!  Nothing is worse than a dusty coffee table, bookshelf or mantle.  Dust is a sure sign you have been slacking a little on the cleaning!  Dust first and vacuum last.  Unless you have a horrible vacuum that blows dust back in the air, then dust last.

4.  What Guests SMELL . If you have pets, or a fish smell from last night’s dinner, it can send an offensive smell to your guests the moment they walk through your front door.  To get your home smelling great, ask a friend to tell you how your home smells.  Studies have shown the nose adapts to certain smells after time. Your house may smell good to you, but to your guests, it could smell like a litter box.  I like to use a Pine scented cleaner like Hexol, it makes your home smell clean and disinfected the minute guests hit the front door!

5. What Guests see that SHINES.  A dull sink fixture, streaky mirror, and dull floor can make your house look unsightly.  Take the time to buff your sink fixtures, shine your stainless steel surfaces and clean front entry glass, and don't forget the bathroom mirrors.  Let your home shine!