If you're looking for something for your kids to do over the long holiday, check out McCormick's Big Cookie Share. You will find it at www.facebook.com/McCormickSpice.
Click on "The Big Cookie Share," choose a virtual cookie and frost it with a personal message. Then send it to all their friends on Facebook and ask them to make the holidays sweet for their friends too.
Your kids also can visit www.mccormick.com, find a favorite recipe and mix up a batch of tasty, cookies to share. There's everything from traditional sugar cookies to easy, one-pan bar cookies.
Need some baking tips? Click on "Baking Videos" and watch a step-by-step video of one of McCormick's culinary experts making Gingerbread Men Cookies, cupcakes and cinnamon ornaments.
Olive Garden has contest
Olive Garden is holding the company's 16th annual Pasta Tales essay writing contest. Students from first through 12th grade can submit an essay of 50 to 250 words answering the question: "If you were given $5,000 to support education in your local community, how would you use it and why?"
Winners in each grade category will be awarded a $500 savings bond and a family dinner at their local Olive Garden restaurant. The company will also provide a $5,000 grant to support education in the winner's community.
Deadline is Jan. 29. Full details are available at www.olivegarden.com/About-Us/Community/Pasta-Tales.
Tasty Christmas gift
If you need a last-minute gift stop by the Tri-Cities Cancer Center in Kennewick for a copy of Favorites from Our Tables, a cookbook of favorite recipes from the cancer center's guild members.
The cost is a $10 donation to the Tri-Cities Cancer Center Guild. The money will be used to provide dietary supplements, wigs, post-mastectomy items and breast prosthetics.
The cookbooks are available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekdays, at the Cancer Center Foundation Office, 7350 W. Deschutes Ave., Kennewick.
New read
The book: 300 Best Rice Cooker Recipes by Katie Chin.
Cost: $25
Best for: We all know that you can make perfect rice in a rice cooker, but whole grains and beans are also perfectly suited to it. Chin has gathered a collection of recipes from around the world for a broad range of grains and legumes.
Also included is information on various types of rice cookers, tips on how to use them and guides to the various types of grains and legumes with information on storage and cooking techniques.
*Loretto J. Hulse: 582-1513; lhulse@tricityherald.com. To receive a recipe via email each Tuesday register at tricityherald.com and click on newsletters.
