When it comes to bakeware and cookware, it always pays to have the right pans handy before starting your cooking or baking project. There are a lot of pans on the market, so sometimes it can be hard to make choices from all of the options. The first thing to keep in mind when buying new kitchenware is to think about what pans you may use the most. If you can find pans for multi-use, that’s even better. Something like this handy 12 Piece Nonstick Baking Set is a great way to get a new cook off to the right start.

Nonstick kitchen baking pans can be used for everything from baking french fries and cookies to making pies, cakes, muffins, and much more. When you buy a nice set like this one, you’ll be ready to make just about any food or dessert you can think of on short notice. This set has 2 pie plats, 2 round cake pans, loaf pans, cookie sheets, a brownie pan, a muffin pan, a rectangular cake pan and even a round pizza pan too. It would surely make a wonderful housewarming gift or bridal shower present.

We have a wonderful Fresh Market nearby that I love to visit, finding some excuse to buy even the smallest item just to browse through the store. It’s a special place, with sample hot coffees, a nice produce section and beautiful fresh flowers at a surprisingly reasonable price. They  also have a great meat and seafood section as well as lots of rows with different fresh breads and goodies. Unfortunately I have quite a big sweet tooth so I mostly find myself visiting the candy aisle where they have big glass containers filled with all sorts of sinful loose candies.

My personal favorites are the chocolate covered almonds and the chocolate malted balls. Oh, and perhaps the licorice and jelly beans. Then there are the chocolate covered pretzels and layered mints. Of course when I like to pretend I’m eating well, I’ll buy some of the dried fruits and some of the healthier snack alternatives. But the truth is I almost always want to grab a small bag of malted milk balls on nearly every visit, just like a kid in the candy store!

Well it might be cold outside, too cold in fact, but it’s always nice when you can come inside to a warm home and turn on the oven to bake something for dinner or dessert. I’ve found myself making a lot of homemade bread lately and the house always smells wonderful. Sometimes the aroma of fresh-baked bread is almost as enjoyable as eating the warm butter bread itself. Another constant favorite in our house is baking cookies - oatmeal, chocolate chip, and sugar cookies being among the ones being made most often. If you like making desserts and would like to make something special for Valentine’s Day, you might want to treat yourself to this Kaiser Heart Shaped Bundform Cake Pan.

Kaiser Bakeware has been making wonderful nonstick cake steel baking pans for many years and have a reputation for quality and consistency. When you bake your desserts and meals in well-made pans and dishes, you’ll find you get much more consistent results. With cheaper pans you often get unevenly cooked meals and cakes that stick to the side. Good pans are always worth the investment.

The baking season is in full swing and filled with visions of cookies, cakes, and treats for the holidays. Starting with Thanksgiving, when many of us will bake our favorite pies like apple, pumpkin, sweet potato, pecan, and lots of other goodies. You can also bake shaped cookies and other treats with the kids to make it extra special for them. Some of the stores carry some great cookie-molds so you can make turkey-shaped cookies and other little treats. Pyrex has come out with some nonstick bakeware, offering items such as this Pyrex Portable 3 Piece Nonstick Bakeware Set.

I really like portable bakeware because it makes it so easy to take treats on the road. Using this particular nonstick set, you can easily take cupcakes to school for a kid’s birthday celebration or a small sheet cake to a gathering at work. The cover locks on tightly and is high enough so that the icing on your creation won’t get ruined in anyway.

Suddenly the trees in our area are bursting with color - beautiful shades of red, orange, browns, and greens. Even the sky looks different, more blue/gray rather than bright blue. And everywhere you look are pumpkins and decorations on display. I love making homemade goodies for our kids and their friends and am always on the lookout for new recipe ideas. I recently was visiting the Food Network site and came across some great new recipes that looked like they’d be fun to make. And delicious too!

There are some great new treats that you might want to try as well as twists on the classic favorites like ghouly frosted cupcakes and home roasted pumpkin seeds,y. I like their  witch’s hat cake and cheese ball goblin, which is perfect for anyone hosting a grown-up party at their home. And young and old alike are sure to enjoy a batch of homemade pumpkin caramels - something I’m going to bake myself this year!

If you’re like a lot of people these days, you’re looking for ways to save money, both big and small. One great way to save a good amount of money is to bring your own lunch to work rather than dining out or buying take out. Even if you do it a few days out of the week you’ll surely save quite a few dollars every week, which will add up to hundreds over the course of the year. Plus you’ll probably eat a bit healthier as well, having served out your portions in advance from leftovers brought from home. This CorningWare 12-Piece Pop-Ins Bake and Serve Set is perfect for both storing and heating your leftovers.

This attractive French White CorningWare Baking Set has a handy selection of pieces for almost every food storage purpose. You can use them for soups, chili, stews, desserts, and more - perfect for any portable meal. The twelve pieces include two sixteen ounce round dishes with vented covers, two twenty-two ounce mugs with vented covers, and four seven ounce ramekins. Plus the durable stoneware dishes can be used in the oven and microwave and are dishwasher safe for easy clean-up.

While we love desserts any time of year, (who doesn’t?), we especially love when the weather turns chilly and we can bake our favorite cookies and cakes. Yes, we do a lot of baking all year round, but the cooler weather makes it so much more enjoyable. You don’t mind the hot oven as much since it’s heating up the house. Plus there’s nothing quite like coming in from the cold to the smell of fresh-baked goodies wafting through the house.

Already we’re dreaming of dipping warm chocolate chip cookies into a mug of fresh hot coffee or hot cocoa. Then of course there’s our favorite pies like cinnamon apple topped with ice cream on top or a deliciously creamy cheesecake topped with cherry sauce.  I guess the truth is dessert is always on our mind! It’s just the cooler months give us more excuses to bake all of the time. There are always willing volunteers available to taste the results.

Casseroles are one of my favorite types of dishes to make for our family meals. I don’t make one every week, but I make them they’re always a big hit. Casseroles are tasty and satisfying, and can be made easily and simply at little cost. The perfect meal! There are many different recipes that can be found online for a variety of casseroles that are sure to please every taste. You can find recipes for meat and cheese type meals as well as many great vegetarian dishes too. You can cook them in just about any type of oven-safe dish, though I like making mine in bakeware like this durable Corelle Stoneware Casserole Set.

I love ceramic cookware because it cooks well, it looks great, it stores well, and it cleans up easily. To me it’s the perfect cookware and if I could use it for everything, I would. But then I also love my stainless steel cookware, so I guess it’s good to have both! This set has a handy 1 1/2 quart covered casserole and a 2 1/2 quart covered casserole. They fit easily inside each other for storage and they can be used in the oven and microwave. Plus they’re fridge and freezer-safe too.

Like many people, I tend to make a lot of our favorite family recipes most often. Apple or peach cobbler, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, layered German chocolate cake, ice cream pies, custard pastries, and good old-fashioned pound cake. But it’s also nice to mix things up a bit to keep things interesting. Not only is it fun to try new desserts, but you also discover new favorites that you might not have tried before. While I have a lot of cookbooks in the kitchen, I also refer to All Recipes online for many of my dessert recipe ideas.

You’ll find a list of the top desserts along with thousands of other reader favorites. There are plenty of photos and tips that help even the novice baker create perfect treats. Readers also submit variations that you can try and all of the recipes have been rated which can help you decide whether it’s something you’d like to try making for your family or an upcoming event. And the price for the recipes? Free. And you can’t beat that!

When it comes to baking equipment, it always pays to find bakeware that is as versatile and durable as possible. Many of us make the mistake of buying pans and other items in haste only to realized after using .them that they weren’t quite up to the job. I’ve been guilty of it myself, buying on impulse rather than taking the time to investigate and buy something that could serve multiple purposes. This red ceramic bakeware set is a good example of bakeware that is both useful and sturdy. Not to mention quite attractive and a good value as well.

Once you own a set of two of good ceramic baking dishes, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it. Not only are these great kitchen pieces perfect for baking meals and desserts in, they are also stylish enough to use as serving dishes as well. Plus you can use them for food storage as needed. They clean up easily, looking as good as new. Then you can stack them inside each other and store them neatly inside your cabinets until you’re ready to use them again - which will be often!

It’s probably one of the simplest treats to make- s’mores. A deliciously gooey dessert made with just a few basic ingredients that is sure to put a smile on any kid’s face. Actually, it’s even a favorite sweet for adults too. While it can be modified by using different kinds of chocolates and crackers to change the flavor and textures, the common recipe calls for just three ingredients - graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate.   Most people use honey graham crackers, but you can easily substitute chocolate or honey grahams too for a change in taste. You can browse allrecipes for variations and ideas for other simple desserts as well.

Back to making s’mores. For the tastiest flavor, the best way to make them is over a camp fire or outdoor pit if you have one. Others have tried stove top using a gas stove, but you’ll want to be careful not to drip the marshmallow all over your stove. You take a marshmallow and melt it over the fire (or in the microwave for 5-10 seconds if you don’t have an open flame). Break a graham cracker in half and place the melted marshmallow on one side. Then, place a small layer of chocolate on top of the warm marshmallow and close the sandwich with the remaining graham cracker half. Many say that good old-fashioned milk chocolate still produces the best taste, but you can experiment with any flavor you’d like, including chocolate frosting and enjoy!

For many of us, the taste of warm fresh bread ranks right up there as a treat, as much as many of our favorite desserts. Hot bread, fresh from the oven, slathered in sweet butter has brought a smile to many faces. If you make your own breads, you can adjust them any way you like. You can choose to use more whole grains for a healthier, heavier bread or you can add cinnamon and raisins for a sweeter bread. Kneading your own dough can be a bit of work for some people - unless you own a great bread machine. Something like the Oster ExpressBake Bread Maker can take all of the work out of making your own bread.

Bread machines do a wonderful job of making fresh breads. They do all of the work for you - all you have to do is add the required ingredients in the specified amounts and in less than an hour, you and your family can sit down and enjoy the homemade goodness of hot, fresh bread. These types of small kitchen appliances are really a treat to own. They can make your cooking and baking jobs so much easier, leaving you more free time to enjoy with your family or to simply sit back and read a good book while you wait for your meal or dessert to be ready.

Now we love our sweets and we love our desserts, and we also love having a good, rich, hot cup of coffee with our treats. There’s nothing quite like dipping a warm cookie or freshly made biscotti into a delicious cup of coffee. The trick to making a good cup of coffee is not just in the coffee beans but in the coffeemaker too. If you don’t have a decent coffee machine, you won’t end up with a rich brew. The Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker is a good example of such a machine.

This programmable coffee maker features a removable filter basket and a brewing pause that lets you serve yourself a cup of coffee while it’s still brewing. It also has a handy two hour auto shut-off that keeps your coffee warm for an extra two hours before it automatically shuts off with an adjustable temperature warmer plate. Plus it has a net special cleaning cycle to make cleaning your coffee machine a breeze.

To all of the Mom’s out there who do so much for their families each and every day, we wish you a very Happy Mother’s Day. For all of the times you stayed up late catching up on household needs, for running out to buy last minute gifts for a child’s birthday party, for all that you do to make sure everyone in your family makes it to an appointment or has their supplies they need for school, you are the best.

So make sure you let your Mom know that you appreciate all of her sacrifices and how she puts your needs ahead of hers by taking the time to treat her extra special this Sunday on Mother’s Day. Give her a day filled with wonderful memories and make sure she isn’t in the kitchen cooking dinner herself that night. Even if you can’t afford dinner in a restaurant, you can whip up a special meal right at home. It doesn’t have to be perfect, remember, it’s the thought that counts and your Mom will love it that you thought of her.

One of the things our children love most for dessert is ice cream. I guess that’s not a surprise for anyone! But it’s the most fun when they get together with their cousins and we set out all of the goodies for making ice cream sundaes. We buy some varieties of favorite ice creams along with whipped cream (homemade if you can!), candies, sprinkles, fudge, syrups - the works. It’s actually fun for young and old alike. Grown-ups can enjoy their sundaes in these beautiful individual size ceramic pasta bowls too.

There are so many simple ways to liven up any gathering really and having colorful ceramic serving dishes is an easy way to create a beautiful table. You might want to keep some fun non-breakables in supply too for the kiddies - no sense in worrying about broken dishes when you should be enjoying yourself.

Oh, what to make for dessert for Easter? Or maybe you’re buying, there are always beautiful big apple pies and scrumptious pastries on display at the local store. If you are making your own family favorites for dessert, be sure and make it easy on yourself by making them a day or two ahead of time. They’ll still be plenty fresh and you’ll have a much less stressful holiday if you’re not trying to juggle too much in the kitchen at once.

One of our favorites for Easter is a big carrot cake. This is a rich and delicious dessert that tastes even better with a hot cup of fresh roasted coffee. It’s the perfect ending to a celebratory dinner. Of course for the kids we like to make a batch of cute bunny cupcakes or hidden surprise cupcakes with a chocolate baked inside. They’re always a big hit!

When you spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and baking, you realize you use certain items a lot. And you also realize you sometimes make a bit of a mess as you go. We used to use a lot of paper towels but have been trying more lately to grab for a kitchen towel to clean up instead. It’s good to keep some extras around. We also have quite a few aprons and one of our favorites is our handmade shibori kitchen apron.

It’s a really cool apron with 2 front pockets. It’s a nice length too, with an adjustable neck and a tie at the waist. It’s handmade in the US of 100% washable cotton and naturally dyed using berries and flowers. It comes in eight bright color choices - since it was hard to choose a favorite , we bought a few in lime green, raspberry pink, and cocoa brown. Even the colors sound yummy, don’t they? It’s by far one of our favorite cool kitchen accessories.

While it might seem far away, it’s never to early to start thinking of your Easter dinner and dessert menu. Will you be serving family favorites or trying some new dishes? I like to do a little of both to mix things up. I usually cook a pretty classic Easter meal served with a delicious new side dish or two. I think though the desserts are my favorite part of the meal - they can really be a lot of fun and quite special.

There are so many wonderful pies and pastries to serve for dessert that I tend to overdue it on quantity. I’ll always make a fruit pie or two and a variety of pastries. I also like to make one of my grandmother’s recipes each year, like her custard layer cake or almond ring. There is nothing quite like a scrumptious, made-from-scratch dessert served with a rich coffee to complete a perfect meal.

There is no special treat quite as simple and fun as dipping a fresh strawberry into dark chocolate or a piece of warm bread into melted cheddar cheese. Add a glass of wine or a brew or any drink of your choice and you’ve got the makings for a party or easy gathering with friends. That’s why we love the Rachael Ray Enamel Cast Iron Fondue Set - especially in the bright orange finish.

This is a great set from a quality product line. And fondue is not just for grown-ups, since you’ll find kids love dipping fruits and other goodies into all sorts of wonderful dips. It just makes for a fun time for all. There are lots of wonderful unique serving dishes that you can own in this world, but I think a fondue set is sure to be one of that will give you the most fun for your money!

What better time to treat yourself to a delicious, decadent dessert than on Valentine’s Day. There are so many wonderful desserts you can make, it’s hard to choose.  If you love strawberries, then how about a light and tasty strawberry shortcake made of layered cake, strawberries and sweet, heavy whipped cream. More of a chocolate lover? Then you’ll love a chocolate eclair dessert or perhaps a pumpkin chocolate dessert cake made in your favorite bundt pan.

You can make mousse, parfaits, cookies, mini cakes, brownies with whipped cream - any of these mouth watering favorites. And if you don’t feel like baking this weekend, then be sure to visit your favorite bakery and treat yourself to something special for dessert for this sweet holiday.

Quiche is a wonderful , satisfying dish. And it’s not just a meal but can be a wonderful rich treat too. It is very rich in protein and oh so fattening, but simply too delicious to resist. Whether you’re making your favorite bacon, ham and mushroom breakfast quiche or perhaps a classic Quiche Lorraine, you’ll surely love this sturdy and versatile springform quiche pan made by Kaiser Bakeware.

This great pan has a removable bottom for easy serving and a patented magnum coating so you can slice the quiche right on the pan without damaging it. It’s a great, solid pan made of commercial-weight steel with a double nonstick interior for easy release and easy cleaning. If you love making quiche this is one quality cake pan that you are sure to get a lot of use out of.

We just came in from a brisk walk outside. When we started out the sun was shining so the mid 30’s didn’t feel quite so cold. However, by the time we returned the sun had disappeared and suddenly we felt the chill. We couldn’t wait to get inside and warm up. Once we took off all of our layers we all decided it was time for a nice warm treat to enjoy.

Now, like most people on a wintry day, we love making a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows or whipped cream on top to warm ourselves up with when we come in from the cold. And that’s just what we did. We popped some fresh popcorn, sat down with under a cozy blanket and savored our delicious hot cocoa. Some of our other cold weather favorites are warm soups like a creamy tomato or potato  or maybe a fresh, warm batch of double chocolate brownies with rasberry sauce on top. Anything warm and tasty that you enjoy is nice to come home to on a cold, blustery day.

We love pancakes, and not just for breakfast, but for snacks and dessert treats as well. While pancakes might not seem like a dessert idea at first, there are some wonderful sweet recipes that you can easily make at home that are perfect for dessert. Before you get started, make sure you have a quality griddle like this Stainless Steel Round Griddle to bake your pancakes in.

One of our favorite recipes is chocolate chip pancakes. The easiest way to make them is to use 1/2 of your favorite pancake mix combined with 1/2 of a brownie mix, adding in some chocolate chips as well. You can serve these with a strawberry sauce and a dollop of whip cream for the perfect finishing touch.  It’s just one of the many wonderful dishes you can make for your family with a litle creativity and some great kitchen cookware.

I was visiting the Martha Stewart site earlier, admiring all of the great holiday baking and craft ideas. I found wonderful ideas for food gifts and some great examples of handmade gifts and wrapping styles. It’s all quite beautiful, I would like to try to duplicate some of them for our own family celebrations this year.

Today’s cookie feature was scrumptious peppermint meringues with chocolate filling - they not only look fantastic, but sound irresitable.  I think we’d also enjoy the butter pecan rounds, so we’ll be trying a few new recipes this year. It might not always turn out perfectly the first time, but we won’t mind tasting the experiments!

This is the time of year when our baking really shifts into high gear. There are cookies to be made, pies to be baked, dessert breads to create. We love making mini-breads since they’re a perfect breakfast treat and are also wonderful to give out as gourmet gifts. Another big favorite of our is homemade cheesecake. Sometimes there is nothing quite as satisfying after a delicious meal than a creamy, melt-in-your-mouth homemade cheesecake. One of our favorite baking pans is the Kaiser Springform Table set.

 What’s particularly wonderful about this pan is that it includes a sturdy acrylic cake cover so that we can make our family’s favorite cheesecake and easily travel with it to the dinner destination. The pan is made of commercial-weight for even and gentle heat distribution for consistent baking. The 2-layer nonstick interior and exterior coating eliminates the need for flouring pans and allows for quick and easy release. Plus, the pan features Kaiser’s magnum coating which allows for cutting in the pan without damaging the surface. You really can’t beat the lasting value you get with Kaiser Bakeware.