Holiday treats: Eggnog Scones

Yummers!!!
The recipe for these scones was on the side of a carton of eggnog about 15 years ago. I cut the recipe off the carton, and these are my official "Holiday Scones". Put the Christmas music on, brew a pot of coffee and bake a batch of these tasty treats. (And as you can guess, this recipe has been copied into my Holiday Book.)

Eggnog Scones (makes 16)

3 cups (about 360 g) flour (I make these with part whole wheat flour, mostly white, in a ratio of 1 part whole wheat to 3 parts white)
1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
2 teaspoons (10 mL) baking powder
1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) salt
1/4 teaspoon (1.25 mL) nutmeg
3/4 cup (180 g) butter
1 cup (240 mL) eggnog
1 tablespoon (15 mL) milk
sugar for dusting tops before baking

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter. Add the eggnog and stir quickly with a fork, drawing the dry ingredients into the wet.

This mixture will be quite crumbly at this point. Time to get your fingers in the mix. Gently mix with your fingers. When most of the dry ingredients have been combined with the eggnog, knead very gently until you have a dough ball. Turn the dough out onto the counter top and divide in half.

Pat each half of dough into a 1-inch thick circle. Cut each into 8ths. Transfer to a greased baking sheet.

Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. (No pastry brush? Just dip the back side of a spoon into a small dish of milk and gently spread on. Do this a couple of times to coat the scones.)

Bake at 425 degrees F (218 C), for 10-12 minutes. Transfer to a rack immediately after baking.


Extending eggnog

I don't know if you do this, too. We extend the eggnog with milk, nutmeg and vanilla extract. I've never cared for full strength eggnog. It's too rich for me. So I've always extended it. Makes it more to my taste and saves money (eggnog is not cheap!).

For each cup of beverage, I use 3/4 cup eggnog, 1/4 cup milk, a pinch of nutmeg and 1/16 teaspoon vanilla extract.

University/college application fees: a couple of ways to avoid these fees

My two daughters have been in the process of applying for university for next year. As if the tuition alone will not be expensive enough, there are all sorts of fees ahead of us to add to it.

There's the SAT/ACT score forwarding fee, for the standardized exams needed to apply. With the SAT, at least, if you designate which university you want your scores sent to, when you register to take the exam, you are allowed a certain number of universities that your scores are sent to, absolutely free. If you delay deciding to which schools you want your scores sent, until after registration for exams, there is an $11 fee per school. 

We made this mistake with my two daughters. They each applied to 2 schools, costing us $44 for test scores to be sent out. This could have been free to us, had we thought this through from the beginning (chosen our desired schools up front, instead of taking our time to decide). Lesson learned. Now maybe someone else can benefit from our mistake.

The next fee most students will encounter is the actual application fee, due when submitting your application. This can be a hefty charge. However, some schools will waive this fee entirely if you fit certain income requirements. (We didn't. But it's worth checking to see if you do.) 

There's one other way to have this application fee waived at some schools. There is something called the Early Action application. Basically this is where the student submits their application a month or two ahead of the general deadline. For one of my daughters' schools the Early Action deadline was Nov. 15. At this university, if you make the Early Action application, they waive the application fee, for a savings of about $50-60. 

Not all schools offer this incentive, but if your child knows where they want to pursue their university education, and they can put together their application in time, check to see if this is offered. The other bonus this school offered with the Early Action application is they automatically put our daughters into consideration for merit-based scholarships -- one less form to have to fill out.

The other university that my daughters made their applications to was a state university. The only waiver of fees there is based on financial need. And this school has eliminated their Early Action deadline altogether. The cost for each application was $60. That's a pretty hefty fee, just to have a back-up school, should the university of their choosing not work out.

One bonus to these fees related to their applications, as I'm paying for this application, I handed my credit card to each daughter, in turn, to enter all the numbers into their applications submission. My daughters have limited experience with credit cards. This gave me a moment with each to discuss credit cards, expenses, paying off bills in full each month -- it was a teachable moment. So, for $60 each, I got the opportunity to discuss money with my daughters. Who knows, that moment may save hundreds or thousands in my kids' lifetimes.

Keeping a Holiday Book

Here's my Holiday Book. I bought this empty book at Target several years ago. 

Inside, I keep all the important fall and winter holiday information -- favorite recipes, fun traditions, and big goofs. And at the back of the book, there's a list of gifts given (and the year of gift) to family and friends, if those gifts are part of a set that I want to continue (so I know what I've given and what they still need).

For now, my Holiday Book keeps me organized. All my recipes are in one place. No hunting down recipes in different cookbooks. 

I can turn the preparation for a dish over to one of my kids and they know exactly where to find that recipe. 

Basically, my Holiday Book simplifies the organizational aspects of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, and allows me to have more time for the joy of the holidays.

Some day, this will get passed on to one of my kids. They can relive our family memories, laugh over funny stories, and prepare the recipes that have been handed down in our family for generations.

A bargain is not a bargain if you have to throw some of it out

I bought this gallon jug of chocolate milk on mark down about 10 days ago. I often pour off about half and freeze for a treat later on. But this time I just didn't do that, thinking my kids would drink this all up quickly. Well, as things happened, they just didn't drink it all that quickly.

Two nights ago, I noticed that we were past the sell-by date on this gallon of chocolate milk, so I knew I needed to get this used up very soon. I served glasses of the chocolate milk with dinner, but there was still over a cup left.

Then yesterday morning, I thought I detected a very, very faint souring. I have a nose that any perfumer would envy. I can smell things that the rest of the family can't. So, I knew this wasn't spoiled milk, just milk about to turn. I decided to make this into cocoa for breakfast. I blended the remaining milk with some water, cocoa powder, sugar and vanilla. It made a very tasty cocoa. But still I had about 3/4 cup of this cocoa remaining. This is the chocolate milk that will not go away!

In the afternoon, I went ahead and made today's breakfast. I used the remaining cocoa for the liquid in chocolate-chocolate chip pancakes. Waste averted -- yummy pancakes that I had planned to serve with berry coulis (frozen raspberries, blueberries, strawberries from last summer). Well, as life happens, the berry coulis didn't get made. But, wouldn't that have been delicious?! Anyways, we had the chocolate-chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup, and they were tasty, especially when I got a bite with a melty chocolate chip.

And now, the chocolate milk that would not end is finally gone.

Have you ever bought what you thought would be a bargain, but it turned out that you couldn't use it after all?

All-purpose pizza, calzone, focaccia, French bread and stromboli dough

This post is for my grown son, who is learning even more foods to prepare, so he can feed himself and his friends well.

Last Sunday, my son and his friends wanted to make pizza from scratch. My son asked me where I keep my recipe for pizza dough. I did the finger point to my head. Then he suggested, "you need to put this on your blog, so I can find it when your head's not available." So, here's the recipe, right where you'll be able to find it.

I should say, this dough recipe is also what I use for French bread, focaccia, stromboli and calzone. I sometimes add finely chopped rosemary, oregano, thyme and/or minced garlic for added flavor.

The recipe is quite basic and forgiving. You don't need to knead the dough extensively, as you do loaf bread. A few quick turns and punches in the bowl will suffice. Or you can do a quick knead in the food processor. Just pulse the dough a dozen or more times.

This will make 2 large pizzas, 4 medium-size calzones, 10 individual stromboli, 2 loaves of French bread, or 1 extra-large baking sheet of focaccia.

1  1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1  1/2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons oil (the oil tenderizes the dough, so if you like a chewier crust, use the lesser amount, and if you prefer a softer bread crust, use the greater)
about 4 cups of flour (half white, half wheat is my preference)

In a large mixing bowl pour water and sprinkle with yeast.

Stir in salt and sugar.

Mix in 1 cup of flour and the oil.  Add remaining flour, 1 cup at a time. In the last cup, the dough will become stiff. Knead right in the bowl, for about 3-4 minutes. Allow to sit for about 40 minutes.

Grease your baking sheets or pans.

Punch down dough. Turn onto a floured surface. Turn and punch about 20 times. 

Pizza

Divide the dough in half, and on a floured surface, press each half into a circle about 8 inches in diameter. Continue pressing and stretching the dough on the greased baking sheet, until about 1/2 to 1 inch from the edges of the baking sheet. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, then add sauce and toppings. Bake at 40 degrees F, for 15-20 minutes (more if heavy with toppings). To crisp the bottom, slide pizza off the baking sheet with a spatula, and onto the oven rack. Continue to bake another 5 minutes, or until done.

For Jiffy Pizza Sauce:
for each pizza -- in a microwaveable measuring cup or dish, stir together 1/2 cup tomato paste, 1 minced clove of garlic, 2 tablespoons minced onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano and basil and 1/2 cup water. Microwave for 40-60 seconds.

Stromboli

Stromboli is one of those great odds and ends meals. The other night I had some pepperoni, black olives, and pizza sauce that needed finishing off. To this I added some onions, green peppers, and cheese, for a delicious filling for stromboli to go with a pot of soup for our dinner.

Stromboli has the added advantage of being a complete meal inside the bun. It's neat and tidy and makes a great take away lunch or snack.

To make 10 individual stromboli:
Divide dough into 10 pieces. With a rolling pin, on a floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle about 8 by 5 inches.

Down the center, lengthwise, of the dough, spread a spoonful of pizza sauce, and sprinkle with toppings. If using any vegetables with water content, such as green peppers or onions, brown them in a skillet first, to draw out excess moisture. Fold the sides of the dough together, and pinch shut, forming a tube.

Turn the stromboli over and transfer to a greased baking sheet. If desired, spread the tops thinly with olive oil and pizza sauce. Allow to rise for 30-40 minutes. Half way through rising, slash the tops, gently.  Bake at 400 degrees F, for about 20 minutes, or until browned. These can be served as is, or with additional pizza sauce or creamy garlic sauce for dipping.


My philosophy on getting take-out

Sometimes, it's not that I'd really be saving time by going out and picking up a pizza or bag of burgers and fries.  Afterall, by the time I get in the car, drive out, wait for an order, then drive back home, it's been at least a half an hour.  

So I think getting take-out is more a need to be waited on or taken care of.  Our lives are so hectic, we rush from here to there, pick up/drop off, take orders from the boss, give orders to our children, clean up, tidy up, spit, sparkle and shine--life is exhausting. And we just want someone else to do something for us, for a change. The fast food industry has built their model on this modern day need. 

There is another way. It's not that I want to put McDonalds and Pizza Hut out of business. I just think that if I recognize this need, then maybe I'll look inward to fill it, rather than spend more money (on fast food), just so I can work harder, so that I can pay for it all.

November grocery money journal -- month end

(To read about the first half of November, click here.)

Nov. 16. Turkey wrestling should be an Olympic sport. Getting those jumbo turkeys out of the freezers at stores and into my cart, then to my car, and finally to my home freezer, is a feat in and of itself. This morning went to Albertsons for their turkey deal. What a difference going to another store makes. Everyone was friendly and helpful. I wanted a bone-in turkey breast along with the whole turkey. They  didn't have the cheaper brand, so offered to substitute a more expensive brand. In recent months, I've not always been able to get a store to sub brands, when out of stock. So this was a pleasant surprise. This Albertsons in our neighborhood is my favorite of the regular grocery stores. Always helpful and kind.

Okay, so the "deal" here was spend $50 and get a turkey for $9. I thoroughly combed the flyer for best deals, comparing one store's sales to another's. Here I found the bone-in turkey breast, half hams and yams to be the star items. I bought 2 half hams (they'll keep in the fridge unopened until the beginning of January, according to the sell-by date; I can bake, slice and freeze up until then), 1 bone-in turkey breast (to be roasted, sliced and frozen for sandwich meat), 12 lbs of yams (yams don't keep more than 3 or 4 weeks for me, so I'll cook, puree and make into casseroles for the freezer), 4 cans black olives, 3 packages of bath tissue (Albertsons brand of 1000 sheet rolls, the one I usually buy anyways), and of course, that $9.00 - 22.5 lb turkey. Spent $59.14 on the food portion of the shopping (the bath tissue comes out of a household supply budget and not groceries). This brings our month-to-date spending up to $259.16.

And almost forgot, the Albertsons deal came with a bonus -- coupon for 5% off my next shopping trip, no minumum purchase required, plus $1.50 off any purchase over $15.

I had originally planned on buying 3 or 4 whole turkeys this year again. But the deals were not as good in our area, so rethought it all, and settled on the 2 turkeys, 1 turkey breast and 2 hams. It's good to change things up. We're now well-stocked for meat for the winter. I still have some beef in the freezer, and when I find whole chickens at a good price again, I'll pick up a couple of those.

Nov. 17. Running errands took me to the strip mall with the grocery store and drugstore. Picked up 1 gallon of marked down milk for $1.98 at the grocery store and 2 dozen eggs for $2.58 at the drug store. Total to date -- $263.72

Nov. 20. A few things on sale at Top Foods (local grocery chain) -- olives, butter ($1.88, limit 4), cheddar cheese ($4.99, 2 lb. limit 1), plus needed Lactaid milk and pecans. Spent $25.02.

Nov. 21. Wanted more butter and cheddar cheese, so stopped in twice to Top Foods. It's near daughters' school, so stopped in morning and afternoon. Between 2 stops, bought 8 lbs. butter and 4 lbs. cheddar, spent $25.02. Total spent for month so far -- $263.72

Nov. 21. Needed milk for weekend and cooking. Bought 1 gallon chocolate milk (yeah, you can cook with that can't you? No, bought it for the kids. They now think I'm a fab mom!), and 1 gallon plain old boring milk. Spent $4.68, total to-date, $268.40. And our kitchen is stuffed to the gills with food!

Nov. 23. Went out on Black Friday morning to our "sweet spot" (they have free donuts on Black Friday morning) -- Fred Meyer. I know, it's crazy to get out there on Black Friday, but we take great pleasure in watching all the other crazies scrambling around for deals. And we eat our free donuts, free apple juice, and free coffee (2 cups! it was 0'dark 30, early!) While there (have to do something while eating all those free donuts), I swung by the dairy dept and found 6 half gallons of milk for 99c each, 2 of which are whole milk, so will make more yogurt, and 2 - 5 lb. boxes of satsumas, for $3.88 each. I spent $13.70, bringing the total up to $272.28.

Also, on Black Friday, we have 2 other traditional stops. Just down the street from Fred Meyer is a nursery/home decor store. They are in full Christmas mode right now. Sooooo, all those lovely pumpkins they've not sold are in the way of the Christmas decor. The Friday after Thanksgiving we swing by there, most years to find sugar pie pumpkins and winter squash piled up on a pallet with a great big "FREE" sign. Today I got 10 sugar pie pumpkins, absolutely FREE. And no, I did not take them all. I left about 75 behind! I just don't want to have to cook more than 10 more pumpkins.

Last stop of the morning (before that free coffee wears off), is a local drug store chain. Every year they have cans of mixed nuts on sale the week beginning Friday after Thanksgiving. I bought 6 cans. We still had one last can left over from last year, which we promptly opened when we got home (gotta move that old stock on out of here). Anyways, spent $17.94 for the nuts. Total now $290.22.

I'm not sure there's all that more I want to buy right now, except for sugar, some chocolate for candy making, and whole chickens. We still have a fair amount of budget money in our surplus that I can tap into any time. In December I may want to buy more baking supplies, like dried fruit and plain nuts.

Nov. 29. We returned to eating a lot of soup this week. Lentil and vegetable soup, and pumpkin soup being the big favorites. I baked one of the hams the week before Thanksgiving. I cubed some for soups and casseroles, and thin-sliced some to use as breakfast meat. With some of the meat I put together 2 quiches for the freezer, for busy nights. We're having one of the ham and kale quiches tonight, along with a mix of sweet potato and Irish potato oven fries.

No one is particularly interested in eating any of the turkey leftovers in the freezer just yet. We'll save those for December quick and easy meals.  Turkey teriyaki, turkey curry, and turkey pot pie are on the must-make list for early December. I froze enough turkey for 6 days of sandwiches, 4 pots of soup and about 6 turkey main dishes.

My garden is still producing kale and broccoli, though the production has slowed considerably. Sometime early to mid-December I'll call it quits on the garden for the year. I leave the kale and broccoli to go dormant, then return for a quick season of about 3 weeks in late March. Then I pull them up.

I also still have pears and apples from our garden, in the fridge to use up. Some of the apples are beginning to soften, so those will go into a batch of applesauce in the next week.

Nov. 30. Cooked up some of the soft apples into applesauce this afternoon. Also made homemade mac and cheese with cheddar from a week ago. Applesauce, mac and cheese and carrot sticks for dinner, with Christmas cookies for dessert. I needed a little help getting into the Christmas spirit last week, so baked up a batch of Almond Crescent cookies, while listening to Christmas music. That did the trick.

So now, we're just coasting on what's in the fridge, freezer and pantry. I haven't needed to buy any groceries since Black Friday, a week ago. For the month, we spent $290.22. Our budgeted amount was  $210. But we had a surplus from earlier this year of $265.45. Our surplus now stands at $185.23 going into December.

Looking back to Nov. 2011 grocery spending, I spent $302.91, and  Nov. 2010, I spent $286.96, so I was in the same range this year.

And the flavor of the month is . . .

Pumpkin!

This week we've had pumpkin granola, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin soup, pumpkin oatmeal, and yesterday afternoon I popped two loaves of pumpkin bread into the oven.

Remember last month, I bought about 6 (I'm not even sure any more, there have been just so many pumpkins in my kitchen) sugar pie pumpkins at the produce stand, to add to my 5 pumpkins from the garden. And then on Black Friday, making my usual Black Friday rounds, I picked up 10 sugar pie pumpkins, absolutely FREE! I have spent years cultivating my knowledge of all the Black Friday freebies. Our first stop is a multi-purpose store that offers free donuts, coffee and juice. Yes, please! We go, have our free breakfast and watch all the semi-sane people fill their carts with all kinds of stuff they may or may not really need. It's great entertainment! I also pick up socks for the family (always a half price deal on Black Friday at this store) and check around for any outstanding deals on items I've been looking for.

Then right across the street is a nursery/decor store that puts on a fabulous Christmas display each year. In order to transition over to Christmas, they have to unload all their autumn decor, which includes a bunch of squash, pumpkins and corn stalks. Black Friday is the day I cruise by to see if they have any pumpkins out for the taking. And again this year, they had a huge pile of sugar pie pumpkins with a big FREE sign. I took 10. That was about all I really wanted to have to deal with this year.

So, I've been cooking all these pumpkins up, two at a time. Then after baking, I put them in the fridge and the next day bake two more. This way I can run 4 pumpkins through my food processor at a time. Then only have to wash up the machine once for those four. I should be done with the pumpkins in another week. I have frozen several containers of pumpkin puree to use later in winter. I've also have been using it in our everyday meals, as another way to sneak in a vegetable. But the truth is, we love the flavor of pumpkin!

So, the other day I was making muffins when my son came in. He asked what flavor they were. I answered, "pumpkin! Is there any other flavor?" His reply, "well there's turkey." Don't know how well turkey muffins would go over. If I try them, I'll let you know.

Why we've switched to LED holiday lights (and things to know about buying them)

If you remember, about a decade ago LED holiday lights hit the market, and they were very pricey. I remember seeing them in catalogs for $40-50 (US) per string! Yowza! Their prices have dropped substantially, and now you can find them in drug and discount stores for about $4-7 per string.

Three years ago, we began the transition to LED for our holiday lights, buying just a couple of strings per year. We now have all of our exterior lights as LEDs, and will buy some for interior use this year.

One caution, when deciding where to buy, these strings are still not so cheap that you feel okay if in year 3 you have a string that fails. Which is exactly what happened to us. So, where you buy matters. I'd recommend buying them in a store with excellent customer service and a very liberal return policy. I'd never, for instance, buy them at Wal-Mart, where if you're past the return policy window and they fail, you're just out of luck (and money). We bought ours from a local drug store chain (Bartell's for anyone in the PNW), where they are so helpful, and generous with their return policy, always. 

Well, Saturday, my husband went to hang the house lights, and one string would not light up. He took that one down, fiddled with it, replaced the fuse, twice, (just in case), checked the wiring as it entered the plug, etc. No luck. So, as I save receipts for durable goods in a box in my desk cupboard, I spent about 15 minutes combing through the receipts and found one for these lights sets, purchased in 2010. (We also save the boxes that these lights come in, and use for storage of the lights when not in use. On the package, there's a guarantee for 3 seasons of use. But they want you to ship the lights to some address in the US, which would cost us more than the lights originally cost.)

My husband took the non-working lights with the box and receipt to the store where we made the purchase, and they happily replaced them with a brand new strand. So, we're back in business here with our lights. (And I've decided to keep the receipts for these lights inside each box from now on, so I won't have to comb through all those receipts another time.)


You can't live in the modern world and not know that LED lights use a fraction of the electricity of standard incandescent lights. What I love about them is so often I turn the lights on at dusk, then totally forget about them. With the old type of lights, leaving the holiday lights on overnight, several nights of the season, just sucked up the electricity. With these, it's no big deal if I forget to turn them off.

Some bonuses of the LED holiday lights:

• on the strings I purchased, the average bulb life is 25,000 hours! If I have the lights on for 6 hours per day, 35 days of the year, the bulbs will last 119 years!
• the bulbs themselves are durable epoxy, that is break, and chip resistant (remember all those chipped-paint, colored outdoor lights?)
• these LED outdoor strings use between 80 and 90% less electricity than traditional light strings. Your typical incandescent C-9 light uses 7 watts per bulb, that's 175 watts per 25-light string. Compare this to the package of lights that we bought that uses 2.4 watts per string! (Our 4 strings across the front roof line of our house will cost under a dollar for electricity for the entire season.)
• LED bulbs are cool to the touch. You can handle them while lit. So, if you're like me, and when lighting bushes and trees in the yard, you like to have the lights on so that you can see your work as you go, you won't burn the tips of your fingers.
• also, because these lights are cool, there is less risk of a house fire from hot bulbs. (Though I would guess this risk depends on your style of holiday lighting -- Clark Griswold-style perhaps a greater risk than single string of lights along the gutter's edge.)
• because of the extremely low energy use, there's little chance of a circuit overload. Most incandescent holiday light strands will caution against connecting more than a few strings together. These LED strings can have up to 80 or 90 strings connected -- just in case you like the Clark Griswold holiday lighting plan.
• and of course, LEDs are better for the environment. By using less electricity, LEDs lower carbon emissions.

One warning -- do not mix incandescent holiday lights  with LEDs. Keep them on separate wall sockets.

To save on your purchase of LED holiday lights, consult your local utility company and/or local Home Depot. You may find a light exchange program going on, where you bring in your old strings of lights and they give you coupons to use on new LED lights.

You may wonder if you will recoup the cost of the sets in electricity savings. We have 4 strings of lights across the front edge of out house. With our average usage of about 6 hours per day, for 35 days, we'll save about $14.00 on electricity per year for that roof edge alone (we also have lights in the back yard that are LED). We paid an average of $6.50 per string of lights, bought on sale. It took us 2 years to recoup the cost of these new LED lights.

And if you're wondering, are we white light or colored light people -- we prefer the white lights, as I use them in the yard and on the deck in the summer, for festive (and now very cheap) outdoor lighting. We definitely get our money's worth out of our "holiday" lights!

How I pack a box of gifts as efficiently as I can

The silver package off to the side is the one last item that lays
flat on top of the rest of the gifts, filling that last inch of space.

I have one package of gifts that I send out of the country each Christmas. So my deadline to get this in the mail is December 1st. (That's actually far ahead of the cut-off date, but in my experience it can take longer than the Postal Service says.) As the cost of shipping is determined by weight, I pack my gifts as efficiently as possible, using my smallest box.

First of all, this kind of packing works for non-breakable items only.

Before I wrap the gifts, I select my box. I look for a box as close to the size of my bundle of gifts as possible, erring on the small side, as I seem to be able to find a way to fit everything all in. 

I practice packing the items in the box several times, until I can find a way to get every last item in. Having a couple of soft, flexible items is a help, as they can be folded into the needed space to fill that last spot. 

When I have found the best arrangement of items for the box, I take the gifts out and lay them in order of how they shall be repacked. I then wrap the gifts. The soft items are folded into the shape needed to fit, before I wrap them.

I use the most lightweight of wrapping as possible. Some ideas for lightweight wrap are tissue, mylar (such as old mylar balloons), and lightweight fabric.

I avoid large bows, but stick to ribbon ties, tiny bows, and stickers for the decorative touch on the packages.

I then repack the box, writing down a brief description of each item for customs (so I don't have to go back and unpack the box to obtain that info). I take advantage of every crack and crevice for slim items.

I add a card, seal the box shut and I'm good to go.

(Dear friend, you know who you are. I guessed you'd figure out that this is for you. Your package is on it's way -- surprise! Merry Christmas!)


Here are some US shipping deadlines given by the US Postal Service for the holiday season 2012. These are their best guesses, not guarantees. If getting your package to it's recipient by Dec. 25 is important, I'd suggest shipping 2-4 days ahead of the USPS deadlines. Things happen. After the recent storm Sandy, I waited an additional 9 days to receive a letter mailed from the East Coast, the day before the storm hit. 


Within the US

Parcel Post Service  --  Dec. 14
First Class Mail Service  --   Dec. 20
Priority Mail Service   --  Dec. 21
Express Mail Service   --Dec.22

US to Canada

First Class Int'l  --  Dec. 10
Priority Int'l   --  Dec. 13
Express Mail Int'l   --  Dec. 17
Global Express Guaranteed   --  Dec. 20


US to Europe

First Class Int'l  --  Dec. 10
Priority Int'l  --  Dec. 13
Express Int'l   --  Dec. 15
Global Express Guaranteed   --  Dec. 19

Military APO/FPO/DPO

Parcel Airlift   --  Nov. 30 - Dec. 3
Priority Mail   --  Dec. 3 - 10
First Class Mail   --  Dec. 3 - 10
Express Mail Military (not available to all military zips)   --  Dec. 17

Eating "normally" after a holiday feast

We are back to "normal" eating here this week. Last night's dinner was a humble meal that suited our tummies very well. 

I prepared pumpkin soup, baked apples and Yorkshire pudding --humble foods that get our eating back on track.

I bake Yorkshire pudding in a pie plate, cut it into wedges and we eat it as a bread accompaniment with soups and salads. I posted my favorite recipe for Yorkshire pudding here way back in the beginning of this blog experiment, in May (golly gee whillikers, has it only been 6 months since then?)

The baked apples are simple to do. I butter a casserole dish. Then halve apples, cutting out the stem and blossom end. I use a melon baller to scoop out the seed cavity. 

In a small microwaveable dish, I melt a couple of tablespoons butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and mix well. I spoon this over the halved apples, and top with a few tablespoons of chopped pecans. 

I bake at 325 degrees F, for about 45 minutes to an hour (depending on the size of the apples). They take all of 10 minutes of hands on work. Not a bad time investment at the end of a long day.

How about you? What is the first "normal" meal you like to prepare after a big feast day?

Christmas headbands

My daughters will be performing in our church's Christmas musical and dramatic program next weekend. Perhaps you remember, they both have very long, red hair. To hold their hair off their faces for the performance, I made each a new headband. One silver. One gold.

I did this the same way as I made other headbands, a while back, covering plastic headbands with ribbon. This time, I used silver and gold ribbon. I bought 1  1/4 yards of each metallic ribbon. However I could have done these with just 1 yard, I think. I have about 9 inches of each left over. But at least I didn't have to scrimp as I was winding the ribbon. So a bit left over may be a good thing. 

The plastic headbands (from the dollar store), the ribbon and the hot glue cost about $2 per headband. And they took only about 10 minutes each to make. A quick, inexpensive accessory to make for holiday wear.

One daughter will be wearing a black dress with silver accents. So I thought the silver headband would look great for her. The other daughter will be wearing a teal dress with a gold shrug. The gold headband looks like a perfect match.

Wrapping up the Thanksgiving weekend: what worked and what didn't (plus a recipe -- Super Easy Chocolate Mousse)

Here we are, the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, and I'm looking back over things that worked well for our holiday meal and things that just didn't.

Things that didn't work for us:

• a big menu--we decided to scale back the menu quite a bit just two days before, and still it seemed like a lot of work, and an abundance of food to choose from. We went with the turkey, gravy, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, an assortment of pickles from the summer and 1 kind of dessert, pumpkin pie. We left out a kale and broccoli dish and a salad, plus the other dessert, and rolls.
• getting the turkey thawed--is it just me, my fridge and the turkeys I buy, or does everyone else think it takes longer to thaw frozen turkeys than it used to? My mom's old cookbooks all seem to think that a turkey should thaw in the fridge in just 3 days. I had the turkey in the fridge for 5 days and it still had some icy-ness to it. Perhaps modern fridges are set to a lower temp or do a better job keeping things cold. Or maybe modern turkeys are processed in a way that slows the thawing process (injected with flavors, water and fats?). I don't know. But this year I moved the turkey from the freezer to the fridge on Saturday. Next year I'll try Friday. 
• timing the turkey roasting--sadly, in our house, Thanksgiving dinner is ALWAYS an hour late. I need to just start telling everyone that dinner will be an hour later.

Things that worked well for us this year:

• having everyone in the house help with the cooking. My son made the cranberry sauce, (following a recipe in Joy of Cooking), a couple of days before. My two daughters were left completely in charge of the mashed potatoes. Each daughter helped with an individual side dish. All three kids cleaned up the dining room and set the table. I'm in the process of teaching my husband how to roast a turkey. He did about half the turkey work this time, up from last year. Next turkey, I'll teach him the glaze.
• keeping the casseroles hot in a warm oven while I made gravy and sliced the turkey. Everything was hot and ready at the same time. Next year I'd like to try warming the dinner plates as well, so the meal stays hot longer on the plates.
• saying grace before everyone hit the buffet, so all were free to take their plates to the table and begin eating when they pleased. In past years, we've waited on grace until everyone was seated at the table with their filled plates, which meant much of it was cold too soon.
• having my two daughters in charge of serving dessert and my son doing the table clearing. This meant I could just sit and enjoy the evening.

I know I will probably think of other things I'm glad worked one way, or wish I'd done another way. But having written this down, I now have a resource for next year's Thanksgiving planning.

How about you? When planning a holiday meal, do you find some things work particularly well, and others, not so much? Any tips to share to help me with my plans for next year?

And the promised recipe?

With the Thanksgiving leftovers always come a challenge of how to use things up, without the telltale "leftoverness". Here's how I use up any remaining whipping cream (yes, believe it or not, we do have leftover whipping cream! LOL!) I created this recipe back when I was a newlywed, and later published it in a newsletter I wrote when my children were all small.

Super Easy Chocolate Mousse

I receive such amazing praise when I serve this mousse for dessert in our house. Yet I don't know if I make anything simpler or quicker. Believe it or not, this mousse only takes 5 minutes of hands-on time.

(yields 4-6 small, but rich, servings)

8 oz. whipping cream
1 cup powdered sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
dash salt
1 tablespoon vanilla

Use an electric mixer in a medium bowl to begin whipping the cream. Just as the cream is beginning to look fluffy, whip in remaining ingredients, being careful not to overbeat.

If the mousse still needs mixing, but is beginning to look overbeaten, use a rubber spatula to finish combining. Spoon into small dishes and chill 10-15 minutes.

(I usually make this dish just before serving dinner and it chills while we eat.)

*tip* If your powdered sugar or cocoa is lumpy, spoon it through a sieve before adding to the cream. Mixing will be quicker if lumps are minimized.

Jazzing up that plate of holiday cookies for gift-giving

We've all exchanged a plateful of cookies at the holidays with a neighbor or friend. Often the cookies are placed on a colorful paper plate and covered with plastic wrap.

I have a suggestion that's a cut above your typical cookie-laden paper plate. Swap out that paper plate for a nice holiday plate.

Black Friday has reached our local thrift shops. Yesterday, two of my kids and I headed out to find a few things. While at the thrift shop, looky what I found! A stack of 4 beautiful holiday plates!

These will be lovely, filled with home-baked cookies and tied with a silver ribbon. Our Value Village still had many holiday plates, bowls and trays. They will be snapped up in another week or two.

But the idea to use a nice plate, for your cookie gifts, will still be a possibility. Many people I know use all white dishware. Plain white dishes are found in abundance at second hand stores, for about a dollar per piece, sometimes less. And plain white also happens to be a nice base for an assortment of holiday cookies.

Just an alternative to your usual holiday paper plate for cookie exchanges.

What to do with leftover canned or cooked pumpkin

You know how it is, you buy the large can of pumpkin, use some of it for a pie, but there's all this leftover pumpkin still. What can you do with it?

If you have just a spoonful:

• stir it into a bowl of oatmeal with maple syrup and cinnamon
• stir it into some applesauce with a sprinkling of brown sugar
• add it to a bowl of chicken noodle soup
• add to a smoothie -- vanilla or plain yogurt, banana, blueberries, honey/sugar to taste and pumpkin
• whisk into eggnog
• add to cheese sauce when making mac and cheese
• add to white sauce for casseroles

If you have several spoonfuls:

• make a batch of Pumpkin Praline Granola (1 batch uses 1/2 cup of pumpkin)
• bake a batch of Pumpkin Scones (1 batch uses 1/3 cup of pumpkin)
• add to a batch of vegetable based soup
• make pumpkin milkshakes -- ice cream, milk, pumpkin and nutmeg
• make Pumpkin Pie Spice Syrup for Pumpkin Spice Lattes (1 recipe uses 1  1/2 tablespoons of pumpkin)
• add to muffin batter as part of the wet ingredients
• add to pancake batter as part of the wet ingredients
• bake some Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Buns (1 batch takes 6 tablespoons pumpkin)
• stir into vanilla pudding, add nutmeg and cinnamon to taste

If you have a cupful or more:

• make a pumpkin chiffon pie (only takes 1  1/4 cups pumpkin)
• make pumpkin bread (2 loaves takes 1 cup pumpkin)
• make a pot of Pumpkin Soup (1 recipe calls for 2 cups of pumpkin)
• bake soft pumpkin cookies (1 batch takes 1 cup pumpkin)

If you can not use your leftover pumpkin within 5 days of opening the can, scoop into small containers and freeze for future use.

And if using home cooked pumpkin for these recipes, strain in a mesh sieve for 30 minutes to an hour, to thicken (but save that liquid in your stock container in the freezer).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Right about now we're having a simple breakfast of toast, coffee and apple juice. With a full day of cooking ahead of me, making a big breakfast is a low priority item on my agenda.

In addition to a big midday meal, we have a couple of other Thanksgiving Day traditions. My two daughters love to watch the parade on TV. And this year, a friend of theirs will be playing in his high school marching band, making the parade all that more exciting.

And the other tradition that I like to impose upon all gathered? Watching a particular movie that I remember from my childhood, The Homecoming. Perhaps you remember the television series, The Waltons. Well, The Homecoming was the pilot episode for that series. I enjoy it immensely, each and every year (some members of my family -- not so much! go figure?!)


Looks like I'd better get cracking on the day! Where ever you are today, have a happy Thanksgiving, and may God bless you and yours.

Thanksgiving safe driving

Dear friends,

As I write this, my heart is wishing each one of you a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope on this holiday you find joy, contentment, laughs and full tummies. I know in our home we'll share laughs over some of the silly things we've done. We'll also remember all for which we are thankful. Among my things that I am thankful for, is you, for your advice, information, support and feedback. Happy Thanksgiving!

If you are traveling for your Thanksgiving holiday this year, I wish you safe travels. This is one of the worst weeks of the year, for fatal accidents. There are some things you can do to minimize your chances of being involved in an accident.

Drive during daylight hours. Avoid late night and early morning driving, if you can. Even if you feel alert and well-rested for the drive, many other drivers out there are either impaired by alcohol or general drowsiness.

Drive conservatively. Obviously, don't drink and drive. And drive within the speed limit. Reducing your speed by 10 MPH reduces your chance of a fatality by half. Most fatal accidents that will happen this week will be due to alcohol and/or speed.

Give the guy ahead of you plenty of space, even more so with large trucks, whose blind spot can be significant.

When you feel the time pressure, keep reminding yourself that it would be far better to arrive late than have an accident. And be aware that other drivers may not be as sensible as you. Give them all the room they need.

If driving after dark, watch for deer. This time of year, deer behavior changes in rural areas. They become more nocturnal with the threat of hunting season.

The worst of the travel days will be Wednesday and Sunday. If it's possible to leave on Saturday, you'll have significantly less traffic to deal with.

Okay, now for a moment of levity. How's this for a driving fact? 4 million Americans shop online while they're driving. Sometimes I just can't believe what people do!

Safe travels!

Cake decorating made easy:writing with frosting (a bit of a cheat)

those blue things are the message stamps

I used a toothpick to trace "Chris"

So here's my son's birthday cake. It's very simple, but I think it passes. Anyways, what I wanted to tell you about are 2 ways to simplify the message part done in frosting.  

Several years ago, I bought this set of frosting "stamps" -- the Script Message Press Set, made by Wilton. You press them into the cake's frosting, and a message is stamped. Next, you trace this stamped message with your lettering frosting using a small round piping tip. Lacking a stamp with the right words (such as a name), I use a toothpick to trace the word(s), then follow up with the frosting for the lettering.

The stamp kit that I bought came with the following words: Happy, Birthday, Anniversary, Congratulations, Best, Wishes. I can put them together for many different sentiments. Last I checked, this particular set was retailing for under $5 USD. 

But I also want to point out that a toothpick and a steady hand can create a nice message, as well. If you trace your message into soft and fresh frosting, any mistakes can be smoothed over and you can try with the toothpick again.

I find it best to do my message first, then any edge trim after, just in case I need to start over on the toothpick message, by smoothing the frosting.

For bags, tips and couplers (the couplers are the pieces that attach the tip to the bag, one part goes inside the bag, the other secures the tip from the outside), I've had the same basic set of tips, round, medium star, small star, and leaf, for about 21 years. My original bags wore out years ago (split the seams), so now I use washed-out freezer bags, whose zip no longer works very well. I snip a bit off the corner, fit in the coupler and tip, fill the bag with frosting, then roll the top edge down as I go.

Thanksgiving menu: substitute for oven-roasting bags

Many folks like to use those special oven-roasting bags for their Thanksgiving turkeys. They do speed up the cooking process (which will save not just time, but electricity, as well). And they leave you with a succulent roasted bird. But I have a substitute for those bags that I use, that I usually have on hand and is quite a bit cheaper. Aluminum foil.

From the Reynolds Kitchens, "the taste of tender, juicy turkey, quick roasted in your oven. Loosely wrap your turkey, sprinkled with seasoned salt and pepper (or other favorite seasonings), in heavy duty aluminum foil." (For more details, go to reynoldskitchens.com, and in the search bar, enter the search terms "foil wrapped roasted turkey". Their links have changed since this post was published, but you can find the technique for wrapping and roasting through a search in their site. )

Bake the turkey at a high temperature (450 degrees), until the final temp of the breast meat is 170 degrees F or thigh meat is 180 degrees F.  Your turkey should roast in 2  1/2 to 3  1/2 hours.

In the last 30 minutes, it is recommended you carefully open the foil and fold back. This allows the turkey to brown.

And what about frequent basting? According to Norbest, frequent basting is unnecessary in modern birds, as most have been pre-basted. Frequent basting will only prolong the roasting time, as the oven will cool every time it is opened. However, I find putting a glaze over the top of the turkey before roasting gives the finished surface a lovely color and delicious flavor. And the gravy tastes gourmet, truly not your usual turkey gravy. I use a modified version of a Southern Living turkey glaze. My version uses some orange zest, orange juice, jelly (either crabapple or red currant), sage, butter, salt and pepper. (The Southern Living version calls for orange marmalade, sage, butter, salt and pepper).

Which side of the fence are you on, box or scratch?

Monday is my son's 25th birthday! C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-E! A quarter of a century old. Wow!

Anyways, I baked the cake part of his cake yesterday. (Did that ever smell fantastic!) I had moments at the store, standing in the baking aisle, thinking, "should I buy a mix or bake from scratch?" Now, you're thinking, "well of course she'd bake it from scratch." But that choice was/is not so easy for me.

I have a confession to make. I actually like the texture of a cake mix more than a scratch cake. My mom didn't bake cakes from scratch. She always used mixes. So in my mind, "nothin' says lovin' like cake from a mix!" Or maybe it's the fluffiness of a mix that I like. So isn't that odd, that I, someone who loves to bake, likes mix cakes better?

I did wind up baking from scratch. What sealed the deal for me was the "sale" price of the mixes -- $2.00. I know there's been inflation and all, but since when do 2 cups of flour, 1  1/2 cups sugar, a bit of vanilla, dry milk, salt and baking powder amount to $2.00? Oh yeah, you have to pay for the colorful box. But I wasn't in the market for a colorful box, just needed the mix. 

I estimated that the cost of those basic ingredients, using my usual sale prices, was around 65c to 70c. For me, the better deal was to bake from scratch. For you, your basic supply prices might be higher and the sales on the mixes might be better, giving you a different equation.


After baking, I wrapped the layers, while just barely warm (to seal in the moisture) in plastic wrap. I'll ice and decorate the cake tomorrow (no purple dinosaurs here, just chocolate shell trim and a nice Happy Birthday message). I like to add a glaze between the layers and on the top surface, to add moisture to scratch cakes. And frosting very early in the day that I need it, allows moisture from the icing and glaze to penetrate the layers. (Plus I'm not frantically putting the last of the icing on while the whole family waits!)

But back to my original question, are you scratch or mix? Are there any mixes/prepared foods that you prefer to the homemade version?


And speaking of cakes, what do you make of the Twinkie frenzy? 

On Ebay yesterday afternoon, a box of 100 Twinkies was selling for over $300!!! That's over $3 per Twinkie! Some folks just get caught up in this sort of frenzy. 

I remember when the Coca Cola Co. announced they were retiring traditional Coca Cola and replacing it with New Coke. People bought up decade-sized stashes of the old Coke, at an outrageous mark-up. And what happened? The New Coke basically went away and back came the old Coca Cola. 

So, for those folks thinking they'll retire on this box of Twinkie "investment", perhaps they'd be better served by reading some of these personal finance blogs, and save the old-fashioned way for their retirement.

Thanksgiving menu: money-saving trick for the green bean casserole

Green bean casserole -- it's a family favorite on the holiday table. When I ask my family what they'd like to go with the turkey, this is one of a couple of dishes that "has" to be there. But it's really not all that healthy. It's high in sodium, fat and calories.

About 10 years ago, I searched for a healthier version of this favorite dish. I began making a substitute for the French fried onion rings that are added to the casserole. This is what I came across. 

It's not a deep fried onion, but the taste is close enough that we all enjoy them when added to green bean casserole. Plus, I have all the ingredients in my kitchen -- bread crumbs, butter or margarine, and onion.

Health-wise, this is a winner. This homemade alternative has about 515 calories and 25 grams of fat. A 6 oz. can of French's French Fried Onions has 1080 calories and 72 grams of fat.

Cost-wise, it will save over $2 per casserole. The 6 oz can of French's French Fried Onions is advertised at $2.50 per can this week at a local store. My alternative costs about 30c to 40c.

Here's the recipe:

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup chopped onion
9 tablespoons dry bread crumbs or 3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

In a non-stick skillet, melt butter. Cook the onion in the butter until golden brown. Stir in crumbs and cook another minute. Use in green bean casserole recipe, using 2/3 of finished onions and crumbs with the green beans and mushroom soup, and 1/3 of the finished crumbs for topping the casserole.