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Hassle Free Delicious Cookies With Cake Mixes!

Did you try to make delicious cookie treats out of your regular cake mixes? Did you even think that it was actually possible to create these homemade great tasting cookies using the regular cake mixes in your cupboard?

Normally I really bake my cookies from scratch although I have recently begun to try out with cake mixes and see how I can turn them into delicious cookie treats. From your ordinary cake mixes you actually have tons of options for really delicious cookies. So, if you’re busy and looking for shortcut ways to prepare those lovely cookies then cake mixes might be the answer to your baking needs.

Cookies Out of Cake Mixes are good for:

1) To help out amateur bakers have more confidence in their baking.

2) Help the busy mom and make things easier for when she bakes these goodies.

3) To make baking cookies a fun activity together with the kids.

4) To ease the budget. Cake mixes are sometimes on sale at $1 or even less. So it’s great for the budget.

5) If you want to make delicious cookies & you don’t have much time, then the cake mixes would help you get those lovely cookies at your table in no time at all.

Some great tips to help you with baking cake mix cookies:

1) Be sure to thoroughly read recipe and instructions before baking.

2) Do not overmix your dough.

3) Make sure that you drop your dough mixture onto cool sheets and not on warm ones.

4) Be sure to line your cookie/baking sheets using silicone mats or parchment paper.

5) Do not overbake cookies. The baked cookies must still be a little bit soft at the top but already set at the edges.

6) Allow cookies to cool completely prior to storing them so that they will not become soggy later on.

Here are a few tried and tested cake-mix cookies that I have baked and found really delicious:

Devil’s Food Cookies

Choco Peanut Butter Cookies

Oatmeal Cookies

Chewy Choco Cookies

Here is a recipe you should try. Enjoy!

Chewy Choco Cookies

Ingredients:

1 box dark chocolate or milk chocolate cake mix (preferably use 1 of the brands that have the one cup of pudding mix already added to the mix. Use either Pillsbury or Betty Crocker.)

1 cup baking chocolate chips

Halfway in-between 1/3 and 1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

Instructions:

Mix together into a large bowl your cake mix, eggs and oil, using large mixing spoon. The oil must be halfway in between the 1/3 and 1/2 mark. I’ve found that any more is too oily and any less makes the cookies dry.After finishing mixing the ingredients, pour in 1 cup chocolate chips and mix again. Drop one inch balls onto cookie sheet.

Try to smooth out the balls by rolling them in between your palms before plopping them down for a more evenly baked, round cookie. Bake at 350 degrees, for 6-8 minutes. Cool for a few minutes before serving. Cookies initially will come out a bit puffy, but will sink down once cooled for a few minutes.

What you need to know about RSS feeds.

So, what are RSS feeds and why they are so popular among internet users and web designers?

Shortly speaking, RSS is a technology that lets you know about new information on different sites and blogs. Any user can sign on RSS feed and get the latest news and links to the information on the website. Depending on the version and specification of RSS the abbreviation means:

- Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)

- RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9, 1.0 and 1.1)

- Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91)

There were only three ways to look after favorite website updates before RSS feeds become available:

1. To visit your favorite website daily/weekly to check if something new appeared. It is a waste of time if you have more than five favorites, especially if you find no interesting updates.

2. To receive via e-mail notifications about website updates. In this case spammers can find out your e-mail and you`ll receive additional advertisements.

3. To use a program to track page updates. This will determine interesting sites and their changes. Apart from downloading and installing you`ll never know what precisely has changed there.

And here comes RSS! The newest and best type of notifications about news or events on sites – RSS feeds. It is executed by means of a special page on your site which is called RSS-document, usually it is rss.Xml. This RSS-document does not contain any waste information such as site design or navigation menu. It basically consists of information on the latest website updates, the additional description of the news and the link to the source page. It should be known that one website can contain not only one RSS feed. It is often that apart from the main RSS feed one major site holds a lot of extra RSS channels with news for different site sections which gives the user more flexible choice if he does not wish to watch for all site news.

How to make RSS feed on a site? There are a lot of ways to generate RSS channels with their advantages and disadvantages. For instance, blogs can be used as such servers give links on RSS document of your blog, which you place on your site and get a “news channel”. The other way is to make and manually edit the rss.Xml, for example, by means of Notepad ++. In this case you shall need a good knowledge of HTML and XML, and if the news will appear often, this method will turn to be very irksome. Thus the most convenient way is to use special RSS-generators, for example, RSS Channel Writer. It includes user-friendly tools like creator wizard, RSS editor, FTP manager, automatic RSS ping tool to RSS servers e t c. Being protected from making mistakes during RSS feeds creation, you don’t need to possess with XML syntax knowledge to create RSS feed with this program.

In its turn, receiving and reading RSS feeds is maintained by means of RSS aggregators, either standalone (for example, free of charge FeedDemon), or integrated in a browser (IE7, IE8, Opera, Firefox). Such aggregators usually have fewer functions to work with RSS feeds in comparison with standalone programs` possibilities, but in case of using web browsers it is not needed to install any additional programs. Consequently the users are now ready to use RSS feeds, and web designers need only to use this possibility to involve in website community and to hold there more and more regular visitors.

When planning your trade show marketing \, one of the important things to consider is the series of handouts you will make available to your booth visitors. Full color printed materials are by far your best bet when it comes to trade show handouts. But how do you maximize the impact of such a traditional item?

You’ve spent significant money on staff training, beautiful graphics, and a professionally designed display. The traffic is pouring through your booth. But will they still remember you tomorrow?

Let’s face it, you only have two chances to make your message stick with your booth visitors: your follow-up strategy, and your handouts. Will your handouts make it past the waste basket? Are they an integral part of your follow-up strategy?

Let’s be clear here. We’re not talking about handing out **** things like cds, yoyos, ball caps, t-shirts, or beer mugs. Those things have their place, but this is not it. Right now we’re talking about getting a piece of product literature into the hands of your prospects and hoping it doesn’t get chucked into the garbage can just outside the exhibition hall.

** Why product literature?

Product literature is always the “go to” handout because printed pieces of paper or card stock are cheap. And done correctly they can be more effective, have more staying power, and certainly communicate more about your actual product than things like hats or pens.

So what makes a memorable piece of product literature — one that a prospective customer will keep? Here are a few suggestions.

** Don’t be cheap when it comes to graphic design

A cheap one colour flier may save you money in the short run, but it is much more likely to be pitched into the waste basket. On the other hand, you probably don’t need an expensive multi-page brochure. The first one is “underkill”, and the second is “overkill”. Do an attractive, simple advertising piece that has catchy graphics and a clear statement of “the pitch”.

** Use full colour and use striking photographs

Create a striking headline and don’t just do a description of the product. Create a “benefit-rich” statement that focuses on some significant customer-oriented benefit of your product.

For example, you can create a headline that says “Powerful Front End Loaders from Mega Loaders”, or you can say, “Get the Job Done in Record Time for Half the Price.” Which one would you look at?

** Content matters – make a substantial offer

By content we mean the pitch…the offer. Create an offer they cannot discard or ignore. Give something substantial away if they fill in an inquiry form. Or tie your offer in with your website. Create a valuable special offer they can only access online. Put it in the form of a “valuable coupon”, something like this:

“Get $40 off your next purchase when your register on line.”

This encourages your prospects to keep the handout, and also encourages them to respond by going to your website and having another close look at your special offer. What could be better? An automatic followup strategy.

** Give them something they will keep

Often a business card is the best. Everybody keeps business cards. Often we keep them long after the person has left the company or the company has ceased to exist. Most of us have a little (or big) pile of business cards. And some of us have a drawer full of them. A few of us even have them carefully sorted in a Rolodex.

Make your business card stand out from the crowd. Spend a little extra and do it in full color. Put a photo of your product on it, or use a striking photo that illustrates the benefits of your product. This says “credibility” — “this company is for real”.

In other words, business cards — especially full color cards — are good. You might even consider a “double whammy” full color perforated post card / business card combination. The 3.5″ x 6″ (or whatever) postcard contains a coupon type offer, and the attached (perforated) business card can be neatly torn off and kept in your pile, drawer, or Rolodex.

Remember to make your printed handouts memorable, creative, and substantial and enough people will keep them to pay you back many times over for the bit of extra cost involved.

Linda Wilson asked:


If you are like most people today, it often feels like you meet yourself coming and going.  We live in a busy world yet we want to serve our families delicious, hearty meals and on a budget, no less.  It really is possible to do so without much fuss.  The following menu gets your meal on the table quickly, won’t break your food budget, and it is filling and very tasty.  Try Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup in 30 Minutes served with Cheesy Corn Muffins.  Finish off your meal with a light touch.  Heavenly Peach Ambrosia is just right.  This entire quick and easy meal is diabetic friendly!!

HOMEMADE VEGETABLE BEEF SOUP IN 30 MINUTES

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 lb. beef sirloin, thinly sliced

32 oz frozen vegetable blend of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots

1 can black-eyed peas*

1 can (14.5 oz) low-sodium beef broth

1 1/4 cups water

1 tsp dried oregano

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heaat.  Add the onion and garlic, saute 1 minute.  Add beef and continue cooking until browned.  Transfer beef to a plate and keep warm.  Return the saucepan to heat and add the vegetables, black-eyed peas, broth, water and oregano  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer, covered, 8-10 minutes.  Add the other ingredients back in and heat through for 4-5 minutes.

*Use a can of any type bean you choose.

Note:  This soup has an equal amount of carbs and protein.

CHEESY CORN MUFFINS

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 tbsp butter

2 pkgs (8 1/2 oz each) unsweetened corn muffin mix

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a small skillet, saute onion in butter until tender; set aside.  Prepare muffin mixes according to the package directions; fold in onion.  Fill greased muffin tins two-thirds full.  Combine sour cream and cheese; drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto each muffin.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until done.  Cool in pan for five minutes before removing.

HEAVENLY PEACH AMBROSIA

3 cups fresh sliced peaches

2 cups blueberries

1 1/3 cups flaked unsweetened coconut

Arrange half of the peaches in the bottom of a clear glass bowl; sprinkle with half the coconut.  Add the blueberries and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.  Top with the remaining peaches.  Chill.  Before serving garnish with a little additional coconut, if desired. 

Enjoy!



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