A few tips to make Thanksgiving Less Stressful
Okay, some of these tips can apply to ANY stressful event but I’m going to focus on the upcoming big event in most households this week.
-Mashed potatoes (or other mashed things like sweet potatoes or squash) can be kept warm in a crock pot for several hours! Make your dish ahead of time, add everything like you normally do and then place it in the crock pot on low or warm setting. BIG time saver and frees up another burner just before you serve up the meal.
-Set the table(s) the night before if you can. I won’t be able to set the kitchen table until just before the company arrives as it also serves as a prep area but I can set the dining room table and the other extra table that will be out the night before. The dishes won’t run away.
-If you have boys like I do and have more than one toilet in the house than do your keep clean of the guest bathroom the night before and ban the boys from it to keep it clean! Yeah, that’s mom of boy humor but any one of you with boys will know and appreciate this tip!
-Consider purchasing a Nesco roasting oven. This oven is a God send!!! I can cook a 20lb turkey in this thing! It’s like having an extra oven that you can tuck into the bottom of closet any other time. So many people struggle with having enough oven room because the turkey is in there forever and you can’t bake anything else. This makes life so much easier and it can really be used year round (hmmm, perhaps that’s another post. LOL). Mine is a bit older and honestly, I wish I had the buffet tray that the newer ones have! Oh the possibilities!
-Don’t try making new things on Thanksgiving day unless you’ve already made them at least once. Many a Thanksgiving day stresses are over new dishes that a hostess is trying for the first time. Don’t do this to yourself! Stick to tried and true and ultimately, less stressful.
-Don’t refuse help! Oh my gosh, if someone is offering to make something for you, then by all means, let them! I know, someone may not bake the apple pie just like you but your guests won’t care (unless you were the blue-winner at the county fair 
). At the same time, don’t refuse help in the kitchen! I know, too many cooks in the kitchen can be trouble but so is a host/hostess pulling out his/her hair!
-Along the lines of not refusing help, is knowing what you can prepare ahead of time. I make all homemade bread and rolls in my home. My guests have come to expect and love my homemade goodies and I wouldn’t disappoint them BUT I also know that I can prepare the breads the evening prior. You can also prepare some dishes the evening before BUT not cook them off until Thanksgiving. Pies can usually be done the night before as well. Bread stuffing can be made the night before (don’t stuff the turkey until Thanksgiving to prevent too much possible bacterial growth/contamination and if you want to make it easy, put bread stuffing in casserole dish instead), Consider creating menus with a lot of items that can be prepped the night before. Even if you can’t put something like scalloped potatoes together the night before, you can slice the potatoes and put them in a bowl of water for the night and then pull it all together on Thanksgiving. Think ahead of what you can dice, slice and chop up the day before. Every minute counts!
-Write down the menu! This helps you remember everything AND if you have help in the kitchen, they can look over the list and see what you’re working on and what still needs attention. Did I mention it helps you remember everything? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found something in the fridge I forgot to put out. D’uh moment! Writing down the menu also helps you make sure you have everything you need. Last minute trips to the store on Thanksgiving can get pricey because you often end up at a costly convenience store and they’ll inevitably NOT have what you need, leaving you to scramble for a last minute emergency substitution. UGH!
- About: Tammy Paquin
- Tammy Paquin is a work from home mom of 3 boys and wife to a great guy and the owner and publisher of Frugal-Families, a website devoted to frugality, budgeting, simple living, homesteading and helping everyone, families and singles alike, stretch their hard-earned dollars. She and her family live in New England and love hiking, camping, kayaking and gardening
Planning The Perfect Baby Shower
The excitement of a party! We expect a good time with our friends. We expect lots of good food. Depending on the party we may take a present for the guest of honor. But there’s a little surprise we don’t expect, and that’s party favors, a little memento to take home. Kids in particular love a kitschy little something. But so do the guests at a baby shower. Baby showers can be as much fun as a kid’s birthday party, and baby shower favors can be just as memorable. Let’s talk about baby showers.
The first rule of baby showers is that they are given by a friend. Everyone knows you never give a shower for yourself. The first thing to plan is the guest list. Don’t pad the list just to get more gifts. Just choose among the mom’s closest circle of friends. Real paper invitations are a nice touch. I know we rely on the phone and email for the bulk of our interpersonal communications, but a party invitation is one thing that should be stamped and sent by mail. The guests will be pleased to get something in the mailbox that isn’t a bill or junk mail. The paper invitation also gives the recipient a concrete piece of paper to hang on the refrigerator as a reminder of the date and time.
Next is the theme for the decorations. In the old days, the mom didn’t know the sex of the baby at the time of the shower, so shower colors had to either be a neutral yellow or green or a combination of pink and blue. Most showers are put on near the end of the gestation period, so these days it’s common for the hostess to know whether to decorate with pink or blue. Crepe paper streamers are kind of corny, but a few streamers around the ceiling give a festive look to the party room. Another decoration can be a banner announcing that it’s a baby shower. Storks are a good addition. See whether you can come up with ways to incorporate baby items into the decorations. You could make bouquets of baby rattles or rolled up bibs and undershirts. Hang baby toys from the chandelier like a mobile. Temporarily hang decorations for the nursery wall on the wall above the food or gift table.
As for the party food, you need to accommodate both the people who watch what they eat and those who enjoy a party for the forbidden food. Fresh fruit and vegetables are good snacks for everyone, but you also want a pretty, decorated cake, various fatty munchies, and a pretty punch.
The best party activity is to buy enough baby shirts and a selection of fabric paints and paint brushes. Then each guest can custom decorate a little undershirt for the baby. These will become treasured mementos for the mom and her baby. The other best game is for the guests to drop a piece of string or yarn on the floor to estimate the size of the mom’s expanding waist. (I always win this game by pulling out one yard of string and laying it on the floor. Works every time.)
Connor R. Sullivan and his wife have recently attended several baby showers and have noticed that the party favors are becoming more elaborate. His wife purchased online baby shower favors for a baby shower she is hosting.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Connor_R_Sullivan
Festive Fruit Salads for Your Holiday Table
I love fruit salads. Unfortunately, many of the best fruit salad recipes are very high in calories and take a little more preparation time than you might want to spend.
The holiday season is a perfect time to try some new fruit salad recipes. Your family will love them and they make a delicious, colorful addition to any Thanksgiving or Christmas table. If you are counting calories, many ingredients can be substituted with a lower calorie version, e.g., sugar-free Jello, low-fat cream cheese, cottage cheese, or sour cream. Enjoy!
Frozen Cranberry Salad
1 (15 oz.) can whole cranberry sauce
1 (15 oz.) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 (8 oz.) carton sour cream
Mix all ingredients together and freeze in bowl or mold. Serve this salad on lettuce.
Strawberry Supreme Salad
1 (6 oz.) pkg. strawberry jello
2 c. boiling water
2 pkgs. frozen strawberries
1 (15 oz.) can crushed pineapple
1 c. miniature marshmallows
1/2 c. chopped nuts
2 (8 oz.) cartons sour cream
Dissolve jello in boiling water. Add frozen strawberries immediately. Stir until strawberries separate. Add pineapple, marshmallows, and nuts, stir together. Put half of this mixture in bowl and chill until set. Keep remainder of jello mixture at room temperature. When jello sets, remove from refrigerator and drizzle sour cream evenly over it. Spoon remaining jello mixture on top and chill until set. May be made a day ahead. (Use 9×9 inch pan).
Lemon-Lime Cottage Cheese Salad
1 (3 oz.) pkg. lemon jello
1 (3 oz.) pkg. lime jello
1 c. hot water
1 (15 oz.) can crushed pineapple
1 c. evaporated milk
1 c. Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
1 pint cottage cheese
1 c. chopped nuts
Dissolve jello in hot water. Add salad dressing, to which milk has been stirred in a little at a time, in separate bowl, before adding to jello. Add cottage cheese, pineapple and nuts. Pour
into mold and let set in refrigerator several hours.
Christmas Salad
6-oz. cream cheese
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. heavy cream, whipped
1/2 c. red maraschino cherries, cut in half
1/2 c. green maraschino cherries, cut in half
1 (15 oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 c. miniature marshmallows
Combine cream cheese and mayonnaise; blend well. Add fruit. Mix well and fold in whipped cream. Freeze. Thaw about 15 minutes before cutting into servings. Can be frozen in one dish or thicker or thinner servings, or in cupcake pans.
Cinnamon Candy Salad
1 (6 oz.) pkg. lemon or orange jello
1/2 c. cinnamon red hots
1 3/4 c. hot water
1 small pkg. cream cheese
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/4 tsp. salt
1 large Red Delicious apple, grated
Boil together water and cinnamon red hots until candy is completely dissolved. Mix syrup with jello, add apple. Blend cream cheese, cream, and salt. Stir into jello and allow to stand overnight in refrigerator.
Article by:
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What’s for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, gardening, organizing tips, home decorating, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at www.creativehomemaking.com.
