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King's Cupboard Gift Sets :.
Day Light Savings with The King’s Cupboard
Posted By admin on March 5, 2010
The days are getting longer, spring is around the corner, celebrate warmer weather with The King’s Cupboard.
Enjoy our rich, decadent mousse mixes available in; Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate Cappuccino.
The phrase “spring forward, fall back” helps people remember how Daylight Saving Time affects their clocks. At 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March, we set our clocks forward one hour ahead of standard time (”spring forward”). We “fall back” at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November by setting our clock back one hour and thus returning to standard time.
The first American to advocate for daylight saving was Benjamin Franklin. He realized in 1784 that many people burned candles at night yet slept past dawn in the summer, wasting early-morning sunlight.
In the early 19th century … localities set their own time,” Mosley said. “It was kind of a crazy quilt of time, time zones, and time usage. When the railroads came in, that necessitated more standardization of time so that railroad schedules could be published.”
In 1883 the U.S. railroad industry established official time zones with a set standard time within each zone. Congress eventually came on board, signing the railroad time zone system into law in 1918. Contrary to popular belief, no federal rule mandates that states or territories observe daylight saving time.
Enjoy the Snow with The King’s Cupboard
Posted By admin on February 16, 2010
According to Associated Press on Friday. Feb. 12, 2010 . . . “ Forget red and blue — color America white. There was snow on the ground in 49 states Friday. Hawaii was the holdout. It was the United States of Snow, thanks to an unusual combination of weather patterns that dusted the U.S., including the skyscrapers of Dallas, the peach trees of Atlanta and the Florida Panhandle, where hurricanes are more common than snowflakes.”
Yikes, maybe we can see the “magical” side of snow in the following story about snow crystals. So sit back enjoy a tantalizing cup of King’s Cupboard Hot Chocolate with a slice of King’s Cupboard White Chocolate Hazelnut Cake fresh from the oven, and pretend you are inside a beautiful snow globe looking out . . .
The story of a snow crystal begins in a cloud, when a minuscule cloud droplet first freezes into a tiny particle of ice. As water vapor starts condensing on its surface, the ice particle quickly develops facets, thus becoming a small hexagonal prism. For a while it keeps this simple faceted shape as it grows. As the crystal becomes larger, branches begin to sprout from the six corners of the hexagon (there are no eight-sided or four-sided snowflakes in nature). Since the atmospheric conditions (e. g. temperature and humidity) are nearly constant across the small crystal, the six budding arms all grow out at roughly the same rate.
While it grows, the crystal is blown around, bumping inside the cloud. The end result is a complex, branched structure that is also six-fold symmetric. Since snow crystals all follow slightly different paths through the clouds, individual crystals all tend to look different. In Antarctica the temperatures are cold and the air is dry, so snow crystals grow very slowly. This slow growth tends to produce very clean hexagonal prisms, which are well suited for producing beautiful atmospheric displays.
Snow is made of ice crystals, and up close the individual crystals look clear, like glass. A large pile of snow crystals looks white for the same reason a pile of crushed glass looks white. Incident light is partially reflected by an ice surface, again just as it is from a glass surface
The snowflake or ice crystal is a very simple example of self-assembly. There is no blueprint or genetic code that guides the growth of a snowflake, yet marvelously complex structures appear, quite literally out of thin air. Make your own snow crystal: http://www.zefrank.com/snowflake/
Valentine’s Day with The King’s Cupboard
Posted By admin on February 11, 2010
Throughout the 19th century, doctors told lovesick patients that they should eat chocolate to help mend their broken hearts. Additionally, chocolate has a long history as an aphrodisiac. Casanova ate chocolate with his lovers, as did Madame DuBarry, courtesan and mistress to Louis XV. Recent research has found a reason for this: chocolate contains a compound known as phenylethylamine, the same chemical that the brain produces when you fall in love.
Fall in love with the entire King’s Cupboard 
rich, dark chocolate line of gourmet desserts any time of the year. Rich & Dreamy Molten Chocolate Cake Mix, Triple Chocolate Layer Cake Mix, Dark Chocolate Mousse Mix, Dark Chocolate Chunk Hot Chocolate mix, Bittersweet Chocolate sauce, just to name a few. The King’s Cupboard offers a variety of gift sets appropriate for any occasion. Visit us at www.kingscupboard.com.
Valentine’s Day History
February has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. The Roman’s celebrated a festival called Lupercalia on February 15. This festival was held to ward off the danger of wolves to their flocks and honored their God Lupercalia.
One Christian legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
According to another legend, Valentine actually sent the first ‘valentine’ greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl — who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed ‘From your Valentine,’ an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It’s no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.
King’s Cupboard Three Chilies Chocolate and Caramel Sauces
Posted By admin on February 2, 2010
The King’s Cupboard spices up its line with new Three Chilies 
Chocolate and Caramel Sauces, and Three Chilies Chocolate Chunk Hot Chocolate. This spicy addition features a blend of jalapeno, chipotle and cayenne peppers to create the perfect marriage of “hot and sweet”. Enjoy Three Chilies Chocolate and Caramel Sauces drizzled on ice cream, brownies, cakes, crepes, yogurt, or fresh fruit, stir some into your coffee for a little spice.
Chili Trivia
When Christopher Columbus was looking for a new spice trade route and bumped into the new world, he came across these new fruits. Western Natives offered him chili peppers, when he ate the pods he felt the same “burn” or “heat” felt from black pepper and he mistakenly called it “pimiento” after the Spanish word for black pepper.
The spiciness in the Chili pepper is derived from a compound called CAPSAICIN, which is a substance located in the internal partitions of the fruit, that causes acrid vapors and a burning taste. Contrary to popular belief, the seeds in the pepper are not the source of heat. The capsaicin is produced in the glands and the most heat is found in the placenta of the pepper that attaches the seeds to the pod.
When you feel the heat from the Chili Pepper the best way to cool your mouth is with dairy products such as milk, sour cream or ice cream, the more fat in the product the better. Cold water will not cool the heat. The capsaicin is a whitish powder which is insoluble in cold water. Chiles are high in Vitamin A and Vitamin C and are reported to help lower blood pressure! And did you know, the smaller and thinner the pepper, the hotter it will be!
THE KING’S CUPBOARD HOT CHOCOLATE AND THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPICS TEAM UP
Posted By admin on January 19, 2010
As we gear up for the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12, 2010 wouldn’t it be nice to have some history behind the beginnings of these champion events.
According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE. At this Olympic Games, a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the stade – a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in history.
For nearly 1200 years the Olympic Games grew until the Roman emperor Theodosius I, abolished the Olympics. Approximately 1500 years later, a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin began their revival. After examining German, British, and American children, Coubertin decided that training children and providing exercise, specifically in sports, would create well-rounded and vigorous adults. In 1890, he organized and founded a sports organization, Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA). Two years later, Coubertin first pitched his idea to revive the Olympic Games. At a meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris on November 25, 1892, Coubertin’s speech implored the revival of the Olympic Games; his speech did not inspire action.
Two years later, Coubertin organized another meeting with 79 delegates who represented nine countries. He gathered these delegates in an auditorium that was decorated by neoclassical murals and similar additional points of ambiance. At this meeting, Coubertin eloquently spoke of the revival of the Olympic Games. This time, Coubertin aroused interest.
The delegates at the conference voted unanimously for the Olympic Games. The delegates also decided to have Coubertin construct an international committee to organize the Games. This committee became the International Olympic Committee (IOC; Comité Internationale Olympique) and Demetrious Vikelas from Greece was selected to be its first president. Athens was chosen as the location for the revival of the Olympic Games and the planning was begun.
So sit back and watch this spectacular, historical event unfold, 
and indulge in an amazing mug of The King’s Cupboard Chocolate Chunk Hot Chocolate. In four delicious flavors, dark chocolate, mint chocolate, mocha chocolate and new Three Chilies Chocolate Chunk Hot Chocolate. Available on line at www.kingscupboard.com .
Happy New Year with The King’s Cupboard
Posted By admin on December 29, 2009
January 1st officially became the first day of a new year in 46 B.C. when Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar.
New Year Traditions incorporates humming of an old Scottish number “Auld Lang Syne”. In European heartland the tradition of first footing is followed till this day. New Year is welcomed with coins, bread, wine and coal. These elements will ensure “abundance” in the hearth. A new beginning- a novel creation ushers in a road that still needs to be paved
One new year tradition is the making of New Year’s resolutions. That tradition dates back to the early Babylonians. The early Babylonian’s most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.
In the United States, one of the most famous parades is the Tournament of Roses where the floats are all decorated with flowers. The parade dates back to 1886 when members of the Valley Hunt Club decorated their carriages with flowers. It celebrated the ripening of the orange crop in California.
Although the Rose Bowl football game was first played as a part of the Tournament of Roses in 1902, it was replaced by Roman chariot races the following year. In 1916, the football game returned as the sports centerpiece of the festival.
The tradition of using a baby to signify the new year has roots in ancient Greece. Early Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth. Early Christians tried to stop the tradition of using a baby to symbolize the new year, but its popularity as a symbol of rebirth outlasted the church’s attempts to change the tradition. Using an image of a baby with a New Years banner was brought to early America by the Germans.
Chipotle Caramel Chicken Wings
INGREDIENTS
3 pounds chicken wings or drumettes
7oz can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
6oz package Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix
1 lemon, sliced
2 cups melted butter
11oz jar of The King’s Cupboard Cream Caramel Sauce
DIRECTIONS
- Place chicken in large ziplock bag.
- Mix together chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, dressing mix, lemon and butter. Pour over wings and let sit in refrigerator for at least one hour.
- Remove chicken from marinade.
- Add warmed Cream Caramel Sauce to marinade to use as a glaze.
- Place wings on cookie sheet. Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. Lower temperature to 375°F, drain wings and baste with glaze. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Drain and baste chicken. Bake for 30 more minutes, draining and basting chicken every 15 minutes.
Continuing Holiday Traditions
Posted By admin on December 15, 2009
The traditional Christmas is not a single day but a prolonged period, normally from December 24th to January 6th . This included the New Year, thus increasing the festival value of Christmas
Traditional American Christmas dinner consists of roast turkey with vegetables and sauces, goose, duck or ham served with cranberry sauce and rich fruity Christmas pudding such as plum pudding with brandy sauce, pumpkin pie, mince pies, pastries are offered as desserts followed by chopped dried fruits and nuts.
Americans visit family and friends and share gifts and greetings on Christmas. In some regions, Christmas Eve to Midnight Mass is the most important part of the festival season. Since it snows in many states on Christmas, dinner is usually set indoors.
Holiday home décor in America generally includes holly and mistletoe along with Christmas trees decorated with tinsel, baubles, popcorn strings, candy canes and electric lights.
Here are some easy-to-do ideas that will help you add the festive touch to your home with minimum efforts and money:
- Arrange some beautiful ornaments with pinecones in a shallow basket.
- Candle arrangements can use evergreen sprigs, pretty ribbon bows and small colorful ornaments.
- Holiday green sprigs bound together with a bow make beautiful window decorations.
- Use Christmas tree cuttings and other leftover greens to make beautiful arrangements in bowls of all sizes. Use them to emphasize flowers. Beautiful and big flower and green arrangements make excellent table centerpieces while simple arrangements can grace your bookcase, bath sink or windowsills.
- Wreaths and swags add festive spirit to the entrances and doorways of your home. Artificial wreaths welcome the guests with holiday and jolly spirit and last for years.
A Christmas Kiss
INGREDIENTS
2 cups lowfat vanilla ice cream
1 ½ cups whole milk
6 Tbsp The King’s Cupboard Mint Chocolate Chunk Hot Chocolate Mix
4 oz crème de menthe, clear or green (optional)
Whipped cream
4 Tbsp The King’s Cupboard Mint Chocolate Sauce, melted
DIRECTIONS
- Heat milk and hot chocolate mix, stirring constantly until chocolate chunks are melted.
- Let cool to room temperature.
- Pour into blender with vanilla ice cream and crème de menthe. Mix until blended.
- Pour into tall glasses, garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and drizzle Mint Chocolate Sauce over the whipped cream. May also lightly sift dry hot chocolate mix over froth.
Holiday Traditions with The King’s Cupboard
Posted By admin on November 24, 2009
The Jewish holiday Hanukkah begins at Sunset on December 11th. It is a time to gather with friends and family and to celebrate old and new traditions. Why not start some new traditions this year?
Such memory-filled moments should be captured and shared year after year. A perfect way to do this is to make a Hanukkah scrapbook, a family heirloom to be shared with future generations.
Collect mementos from dinners and gatherings with family and friends. Using a digital camera, take plenty of pictures of your decorated dinner table, family or friends enjoying each others company, and pictures of the children playing traditional Hanukkah games. Include mementos such as matchbooks or napkins from restaurants, a child’s handmade drawing, or a special Hanukkah card that just arrived in the mail. Don’t forget to label pictures in your scrapbook with names, and dates so these memories can be relived for years to come.
The great thing about a family tradition is that it’s never too late to start one, so if your family doesn’t have any Hanukkah traditions you can start one this year!
A tradition that will be passed down from child to child is as simple as decorating the house together or baking cookies. Forgo a gift in lieu of donating to a charity.
If all the members of your family really like to eat almonds, play the Dreidel game using almonds instead of the customary gelt. Maybe nobody in your family can carry a tune, in which case, starting the tradition of reciting the Hanukkah blessings instead of singing them may be in order.
What ever traditions you decide to carry on or start, may your holiday be blessed and full of peace. All King’s Cupboard sauces are Kosher Dairy Certified
THE KING’S CUPBOARD BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE
This is a fabulous “do ahead” recipe for any special occasion. It should be made at a minimum of 8 hours (up to 2 days) before serving. The chocolate wafers absorb moisture from the mousse and assume a cake texture.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups chilled heavy cream
10 oz jar of The King’s Cupboard Bittersweet Chocolate sauce
9 oz package of chocolate wafers
shaved bittersweet chocolate (garnish)
DIRECTIONS
1. In a large chilled stainless steel or glass bowl, beat the heavy cream and chocolate sauce at medium speed until firm peaks form.
2. Spread about ½ cup of the whipped chocolate cream on a long rectangular platter to form a 3×10” rectangle.
3. Using a small offset spatula, spread 1 tablespoon of the chocolate cream on 35 chocolate wafers. Arrange 5 stacks of 7 wafers with no cream on one side of the top and bottom wafers.
4. Arrange wafer stacks on their sides as close together as possible on the platter’s chocolate cream rectangle.
5. Spread all but ½ cup of remaining chocolate cream over the cake, fixing any wafers that tilt or slide.
6. Press a long sheet of plastic wrap over the cake, gently flattening the top and sides. Refrigerate for a minimum of 8 hours (up to 2 days). Also refrigerate the remaining chocolate cream.
7. When ready to serve: discard the plastic wrap and frost cake with the remaining chocolate cream, smoothing the top and sides.
8. Garnish with chocolate shavings. Cut into slices wiping the knife after each cut.
Thanksgiving with The King’s Cupboard
Posted By admin on November 4, 2009
Pilgrims actually used the term “turkey” for all wild birds, so turkey as we know it today could have in fact been any wild fowl — even an eagle.
Sweet treats such as candied yams, sweet potato or pumpkin pie were also absent from the menu. Sweet potatoes had not yet been introduced to New England in the 17th century and although pumpkins were plentiful, they were eaten boiled. The pilgrims’ supply of flour had been used by the time of the feast, so there were no pies or pastries of any kind.
A more realistic menu for the 1621 feast would have included: fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, maize, venison and vegetables such as peas, beans and squash.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving. However, in 1939, after a request from the National Retail Dry Goods Association, President Franklin Roosevelt decreed that the holiday should always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month (and never the occasional fifth, as occurred in 1939) in order to extend the holiday shopping season by a week. The decision sparked great controversy, and was still unresolved two years later, when the House of Representatives passed a resolution making the last Thursday in November a legal national holiday. The Senate amended the resolution, setting the date as the fourth Thursday, and the House eventually agreed.
Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird of the United States. But it was Thomas Jefferson who opposed him. It is believed that Franklin then named the male turkey as ‘tom’ to spite Jefferson.
Easy and Delicious
Fresh Cranberry and
King’s Cupboard Caramel Pie
FILLING INGREDIENTS
11 oz jar of The King’s Cupboard Cream Caramel
1 package fresh whole cranberries
½ cup chopped walnuts
CRUST INGREDIENTS
1 1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
½ cup butter
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Mix flour and powdered sugar together. Cut in butter until mixture resembles crumbs.
- Press crust mixture on bottom and sides of 9” pie plate.
- Bake crust for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven.
- Increase oven temperature to 375°F.
- Heat caramel sauce in a microwave for 40 seconds.
- Mix melted caramel, cranberries and nuts. Pour into pie shell and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes or until cranberries pop open.
Loosely cover pie and let cool. Filling will firm as it cools.
Autumn with The King’s Cupboard
Posted By admin on October 8, 2009
What is a Montana Autumn? I’ve lived here now for close to 9
years, and it is not anything like my east coast autumns with stunning reds, pinks, oranges, gold and lemon colors. Montana is a celebration in its own right, with the Rocky Mountains as the backdrop, willowy Aspen and scarlet Mountain Ash, yellows, golds and ochre colors all blending in harmony with the surrounding evergreens.
A Montana autumn doesn’t creep up on you slowly, it appears overnight. The nights begin to cool down rather quickly, it can be an 85 degree day and suddenly you wake up to a chilly 24 degree morning. Then all of a sudden, maybe even the same day, before the leaves have a chance to turn golden and drop to the ground, we have two feet of soft white snow lying on top of the green grass.
Who knows, maybe the snow will melt and we will have a few more warm days before we drop down to the single digits. Perhaps, we will get the chance to inhale that musky scent of dropped leaves, pick that perfect pumpkin, and a bushel of red applies. If not, there is always skiing, snow boarding and sledding downhill!
Right now is the time to enjoy that steaming cup of hot cocoa, the only cocoa mix that makes it all worthwhile. I am talking about a rich, hearty, flavorful mug of King’s Cupboard Mocha Chocolate Chunk Hot Chocolate. Perfect as a gift or for yourself, enjoy the memories.