The Virtual Woman: A Woman's
Weekly Guide To Cyberspace
Internet A Hit For Holiday Cooking
Whether it's Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa or the ever popular Night of the Radish we can all count on one universal: food-heaping platefuls of food, food and more food. Some of us can also count on cooking massive quantities of it too. Faster than you can say Winter Solstice you find your time being sucked into a black hole of recipes and endless hours in the kitchen. On top of making sure you don't get fired, you need to shop for gifts, cook, bake, clean and scream at the kids to turn the T.V. down. But in your time of need the web giveth and, well, the web giveth some more. Read on and a happy Hari-Kuyo to y'all!P.S. Unsure about some holidays mentioned here? Take a peak at http://www.maui.net/~mcculc/xmas.htm and learn more about these lesser known celebrations.
-
Dominique V., Boston, MA
Dear Dominique:
A section of the
Good Karma Cafe
(http://members.tripod.com/vegholiday/index.html) gives a nice little overview called Tips
for Feeding a Vegetarian (kinda sounds like Tips For Feeding Your New Cockatoo) but
anyway...it does give some good common sense things to think about before launching into
meal prep. Since you didn't mention whether your sister-in-law to be is a vegetarian
(typically someone who doesn't eat meat) or a vegan (a vegan who doesn't eat any animal
products whatsoever), I've listed links to both. For strictly Vegan recipes, you can
visit
http://www.drmcdougall.com/holidaycooking.html. For both types of recipes, the
Veg Source website
(http://www.vegsource.com/recipe is jammed with I'd say thousands of tantalizing sounding
recipes for vegetarians and vegans. Even a carnivore could sniff out a good recipe in this
huge selection. Just pick a category like Casseroles, Pasta or Breads and begin ogling!
-
Cindy Walters, Chicago, IL
Dear Cindy:
Great idea! For several Gifts from the Kitchen ideas, go to
Sarah's Gingerbread Kitchen found at
http://merry-christmas.webjump.com/. Sarah and her family have compiled a group of great
recipes for treats such as spiced nut mixes, cookie mixes, jar cakes and more. If Pink
Peppermint Holiday Fudge and Cranberry Salsa sound like intriguing gifts then be sure to
log onto
The Home Arts website at
(http://homearts.com/mrfood/articles/c8gift16.htm). While there aren't a gazillion recipes
on this page the ones they've chosen all sound delicious and all take less than an hour to
make.
-
Alice W., Denver, CO
Dear Alice:
No need to crumble under stress, dear. 120 cookies will be a snap if you give
Mimi's Christmas Cookie Archive a look-see
at http://www.christmas-cookies.com/). If you can't find a good cookie recipe here,
perhaps it doesn't exist. A nice feature here is that you can download the entire archive
of recipes to view later and print out at your leisure. Another good cookie recipe site is
the aptly named
Cookie Recipe.com (http://cookierecipe.com/). On
their homepage, click on the Cookies by Category link on the top toolbar, then select any
category on the left-hand toolbar, get out your baking mit, and rock on!
Happy Surfing!
Dear Virtual Woman:
I'm a good cook
and I love to pull out all the stops for the holiday meal. I have all the traditional
dishes down, but my brother just got engaged to a vegetarian, and since I want to make her
feel comfortable with her future family, I'd like to provide my sister-in-law to-be with
some meatless alternatives to the normal holiday fare. Can you please help me find some
festive vegetarian recipes?
Dear Virtual Woman:
I'm a single mom on a tight budget,
and after I spend money on the kids, I rarely have money left over to buy presents for my
friends and coworkers. So I was thinking it would be fun to make food gifts for all the
people I care about and save a bit of money that way. I'm counting on you to let me know
where I can find ideas and/or recipes on the Web. Thanks!
Dear Virtual Woman:
Heeeeelp! As a room mother,
I've just been informed that my baking services are needed for my daughter's 4th grade
class holiday party. I need to make 10 dozen cookies, but my cookie recipes are kind of
out-of-date. Can you lead me to a site that has some good cookie recipes?
Find these links and more at WWWomen.Com (http://www.wwwomen.com) the web's largest search directory of topics for women online. Email the Virtual Woman with your Internet questions or send snailmail to: WWWomen.Com, Attn: Virtual Woman, 3701 Geary Blvd., #325, S.F., CA 94118. Copyright, 1998-99. WWWomen, Inc. All rights reserved.
This column can only be re-distributed with written
permission by
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service or WWWomen, Inc.
Contributing Editor: Mary Bergner
© Copyright 1996-99. WWWomen, Inc.®. All Rights Reserved.
WWWomen is a registered trademark of the WWWomen company.