The first package is on its way to the Czech Republic for my aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandparents. I like to send them some tasty treats each Christmas (especially since a few of these items are hard to come by in their local markets):
- figs
- chocolate covered cherries
- chocolate covered ginger
- dried mangoes
- dark fair trade chocolate
- raspberry green tea
- rooibos tea
I made little tags (see the green Santa stamps with the colored in red hats?) to identify the goodies.
The second gift basket is for my other set of grandparents. Some of the goodies featured in this basket were raw, local honey, mix nuts, pistachios, vanilla almond tea, and local apple butter from McCutcheon's.
The third gift basket is for my in-laws. This basket includes some of the goodies mentioned above plus fig jam, two types of dried figs, wild berry herb tea, and dried salami.
I worked on the baskets in between making soup for lunches this week. I was inspired by the blue potatoes from Hagerstown that I found at the market today. To compliment the potatoes, I added califlower, onion, garic, rosemary, and black beans.
The blue potatoes are just beautiful!
Here's the final product. The picture isn't great, but the smell was lovely. I think mushrooms would have made a great addition to this soup. Since there are plenty more weeks of cold weather ahead, I'll be able to try this one again with mushrooms.
