No-fat, no-gluten meringues are a light
dessert with coffee or tea. Photo courtesy
BellaBaker.com.

Lauryn Cohen of BellaBaker.com shows how to turn the pallid white meringue into a holiday meringue bursting with red and green accents.
CHRISTMAS MERINGUES: RED, GREEN & WHITE

Ingredients

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 200°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. ADD the egg whites, sugar and vanilla in the metal bowl of a stand mixer add. Place over a medium saucepan of simmering water. Stir until the sugar melts and the mixture is almost clear.

3. PLACE the bowl into the stand mixer and, using the whisk attachment, whip for 8 minutes on medium-high. The meringue should be glossy and stiff.

4. BRUSH a line of red food coloring onto the inside of the piping bag, using either a small paint brush or a lollipop stick. Repeat with the green on the opposite side of the bag. Fill with the meringue and pipe into roses or star dollops onto your baking sheets.

5. PLACE in the oven and bake for 1 hour 45 minutes. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

That’s why our final pre-Christmas tip is to give yourself or your loved ones healthy cooking classes. It’s smart to include adolescents, teens and young adults: Most eating habits are learned at home.

That’s why we love the gift of understanding how to make nutritious and calorie-wise foods:

 
And it’s a great last minute gift: You need only a holiday card. Just write, “This card entitles you to a gift of healthy cooking classes at the school of your choice.”

WHERE TO FIND HEALTHY COOKING CLASSES

You’ll find healthy cooking classes at local cooking schools, Ys, community colleges, adult education centers and natural foods stores such as Whole Foods Market.

Just search “healthy cooking classes” and your town.
  

The best gift of all: a cow, goat, sheep or
chickens to a very needy family. Photo
courtesy Heifer International.

Perhaps the most important gift catalog is from Heifer International, which provides indigent families with a cow or other livestock: a reliable source of food for the children and also a reliable source of income. Extra milk from a cow, goat or sheep, or eggs from a poultry gift, can be sold at the local market.

You can give the gift in the name of someone else: a double gift, as it were, giving the person who has everything the donation of a food animal to a family that has nothing. This truly meaningful gift will change the lives of a third-world family in need.

Income from the milk or eggs, coupled with the training in sustainable practices that the family receives, allows them to clothe their families, obtain medical care and send the children to school.

It’s not just cows: You can give a goat or sheep, a beehive, chickens, ducks or geese. The cost of a gift is as little as $20…or less:

You can buy a “share” in a cow or sheep for just $10. Take a look at the options.

Your cousin may not need those extra iTunes, but a needy family sure could use that flock of chickens ($20).

Check out the options.