The Elf Blog

An Accidental Recipe

When I was baking my pumpkin pies last Wednesday, I discovered that I had more fillimg than pie shell. Well, you know I hate to waste, so I decided to find a way to use it.

I created some simple pumpkin custards. I poured the remaining filling into some 1 cup ramekins. I filled each one about two-thirds full and placed them in a pan half filled with water. I baked the
custards right along with the pies – 50 minutes at 350 degrees. I let them cool and then popped them in the fridge.

To serve, just top with some whipped cream. You can make it extra fancy with some chopped
toasted pecans and a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg.

There you have it: a lovely dessert from food that might have been wasted.

Thanksgiving is One Week Away!

Thanksgiving is next Thursday!

If you haven’t finalized your menu, today is the day. Also, schedule your shopping. If at all possible, avoid grocery stores between 9 and 7 on Saturday and Sunday. When I stand in lines that long, I expect a roller coaster to be at the end. Shopping off hours (even in the middle of the night) means no lines, but the shelves may not be well stocked. If you have a 24-hour store, think about shopping at 6 am on Saturday or Sunday. They’ll likely have restocked overnight for the big day, but most folks
will still be in bed.

If you aren’t using your dining room this weekend, set the table now. One less thing to worry about
next week. You can also set up the bar and place serving dishes on the table or sideboard so that you know everything is in place.

Take your turkey out of the freezer now. You don’t want to face a still-frozen turkey on Thursday morning.

Make sure you’ve decided a menu for Wednesday and Friday. Planning what you’ll need makes
life less stressful. Even better: if you’ll have guests who want to help, assign them Wednesday dinner and Friday breakfast and lunch to give yourself a break.

Beginning next week, it’s all about the cooking. So the goal this weekend is to handle everything else.

Thanksgiving Preparations

Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away. That means that preparations move into high gear.

• If you are traveling for the holiday and plan to anything except drive: good luck! Fares have exploded – when you can find an available ticket. If you are in this situation, make a note for next August/September so it doesn’t happen again.

• If you are hosting, all your lists need to be in place: shopping list, task list and schedule, menu, guest list, etc.

• Finish cleaning up the spaces you’ll use for dinner. Trying to clean while you’re trying to bake pies is a bad plan.

• As much as possible, stage everything you’ll need for the dinner in a safe and out of the way place: table linens, china, silver, serving ware, etc.

• Make sure your fridge is clean and you know where the leftover containers are.

• If you have houseguests, plan the other meals for their stay. After cooking a big meal on Thursday, you won’t want to be coming up with ideas and shopping for ingredients on Friday.

• Plan to do your grocery shopping at an off-hour. Nothing good can come from tryingto shop the Saturday before Thanksgiving – unles it’s at 2 am.

Why Holiday Planning Scares Us: Part 3

Today I’ll look at the final major reason that I think folks are intimidated by celebrating the holidays.

Over the last few years, the number of “lifestyle” magazines, books, and television shows has grown exponentially. There are entire channels dedicated to home improvement, cooking, and lifestyle. Craft books are a growth genre in the publishing world.

While these are excellent resources (I learn a lot from them myself), they do create unrealistic expectations.

People feel like they’ve failed because they don’t have a perfectly set table with the perfect meal in the perfect house with the perfect family. Why bother putting thought into a gift if you don’t have time to handcraft your wrapping paper and gift tags? Why bother hosting a party if you don’t have matching serving trays for the hors d’ouevres? Why bake Christmas cookies if you don’t hand paint the frosting in perfectly rendered forms?

As much as I love watching these shows, I’ll be honest: There are less real than Kim Kardashian’s wedding! These shows (and the books and magazines) have large staffs, including specialists in each area (décor, cooking, various crafts, etc.). No one person is an expert in all these areas.

They also have far larger budgets than real people are ever likely to have. Who among us can afford to purchase a dozen turkeys so that only the prettiest is photographed for the magaizine cover? (And who would tolerate that waste even if we could afford it?)

Holding ourselves to unrealistic standards is the surest recipe for disappointment and it fuels the desire to avoid holiday preparations.

So here are your marching orders: Celebrate with the people you love. Do your best with what you have (both skills and goods). Remember, the point is to enjoy spending time with people – not to get ratings or newsstand sales. In truth, the mistakes and disasters will be the stories the family recounts for generations. Just celebrate – and let the chips (or the decorations) fall where they may.

Why Holiday Planning Scares Us: Part 1

This week, I’ve decided to spend a few posts looking at why people fear planning for the holidays.

One reason that holiday planning scares people is that we’ve gotten out of the habit of cooking family meals and entertaining on a small scale. When you are accustomed to cooking Sunday dinner – and eating it in the dining room, not in front of the tv – or having friends over for small gatherings, the idea of cooking a Thanksgiving dinner or throwing a Christmas Eve open house is far less intimidating.

Think about it: Holiday celebrations aren’t some new kind of exotic animal. They should just be bigger and more formal versions of what we already do. Of course, if your last 10 meals have
been eaten off paper plates or out of a fast food bag, putting a turkey and 4 side dishes on a properly set table will be stressful.

So, what do you do about it?

Pick (at least) one day each month when the family gathers around the table for a meal. Everyone shows up (friends are welcome), properly dressed. The table has a tablecoth, more silverware than a fork, cloth napkins, and the good china (yes, you can use it on non-holidays!) The tv and cell phones get turned off and you actually TALK TO EACH OTHER. Everybody helps to get the meal on the table and to clean up.

It’s a radical concept, but if you have a nice dinner once a month for a year, you’ll be amazed at how easy it will be to plan holiday meals next year!

Thanksgiving: Three Weeks AWay

Thanksgiving is only 3 weeks away.  It's time to pick up the pace of your preparation.

• Begin staging the dinner, getting china, serving pieces, table linens, etc. ready and gathered in a single accessible place.
• That means it's time to polish the silver if necessary and iron the table linens.
• If you plan a centerpiece, gather what you'll need (or order the flowers).
• Create a detailed schedule for your preparation.  Place everything as early in the schedule as possible to reduce stress.  You can shop for non-perishables as early as this weekend.  YYou can set the table the Monday before Thanksgiving.  Only leave to Thanksgiving morning those things that cannot be done in advance.  The best thing you can bring to the table is yourself, relaxed.
• If you like fresh turkeys, order yours now for pickup during Thanksgiving week.  If you use a frozen turkey, you can buy it when you'd like.  Also get a large plastic bucket and make room in the fridge so you can brine it.
• Do a serious clean of your house or hire someone to come in and do it.  If the house is tidy, you'll be calmer.
• If you are having guests, set the guest room up now so it's one less thing to worry about.

Thanksgiving is 4 Weeks Away!

Thanksgiving is four weeks from today!  That means planning goes into overdrive.

• Continue clearing space in your freezer and refrigerator.  You're going to need it.
• Keep de-cluttering your house.  Just 10 minutes every day between now and Thanksgiving is nearly 6 hours of cleaning time!
• Purchase any serving ware or table linens you might need.  Shopping now may mean you won't get the best sales, but you'll get the best selection.  Remember, try to avoid holiday themed serving ware that will take up lots of space and have limited use.
• Look at your calendar and block out substantial periods of time for major tasks: the "big" clean, grocery shopping, table-setting and decor, cooking.
• Finalize your Thanksgiving dinner menu.
• Decide which serving bowls or platters will hold which foods.  The last thing you want is to be putting Thanskgiving dinner on the table and only then realize that you have no place to put the stuffing.
• Decide if you will have table decorations and, if so, what they will be.
• If you have guests staying for the holiday weekend, plan your menus for the whole stay.  That means breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks.  Planning ahead will let you do some advance prep work and will help you use up leftovers. For example, leftover pumpkin can go into pumpkin pancakes.  Turkey noodle soup makes a lovely lunch with a salad or a sandwich.  Just make sure it's not all turkey all the time.

Time spent planning is time well spent!

Thanksgiving Planning!

Thanksgiving is 6 weeks from today! Scary, isn’t it?

Now, it’s way too early to start your grocery shopping (with one exception that I’ll mention below). Most grocery stores don’t start their Thanksgiving food sales until the week of November 1st. But, there are things you can do to get ready if you are hosting this year’s meal:

• Invite folks so you’ll know how many people to expect.

• Begin deciding on your menu. Will you go with the traditional menu? Shake things up? Add a new side dish or dessert?

• If you will need to borrow serving ware or chairs (my perennial problem), make arrangements now.

• Find your table linens and see if they need cleaning, repair, or ironing.

• Check your silverware to see if polishing is required.

• Remember where your stored the good china, the serving platters, the extra wine glasses.

• Start making room in the refrigerator and freezer so that you’ll have space to defrost the turkey. It’s easier to use a little bit every day over time than to try to eliminate a ton of food on November 20th.

• Declutter and tidy the house as possible, with special attention to the public rooms. Unless you’ll have houseguests. Then you need a more thorough cleaning.

• Check your stock of leftover containers. Mismatched tops and bottoms can go bye-bye.

• If you want a fresh, free-range turkey, you will need to order very soon. It’s not like poultry farms can make more turkeys on a moment’s notice.

Well, that should keep you busy for the next few weeks!

Christmas Countdown -- 6 months (minus a few days!)

Actually, last Friday was 6 months until Christmas Eve, but things have been a bit nuts at work lately, so I'll step in here with the next installment of the Christmas Countdown:

1)  If you don't have a holiday budget, develop one now.  Keep in mind that if you have a holiday budget in place, some of those vacation purchases can become gift purchases!

2)  If you need to trim your budget to make it realistic, now is the time to discuss cutting back on spending for gifts or limiting travel costs or other purchases.  You may be able to throw a party jointly with a friend and cut your entertainment costs.  Thinking about it now gives you more options. 

3) Keep updating your card address list. 

4)  If you can decide your travel now, you can buy your tickets with maximum choice of seats and at great prices.  Some sites (like Orbitz) even offer price assurance, so if someone else gets the same flight cheaper, they'll refund the difference to you.  If the costs are high, consider travel insurance -- just in case.

5) If you plan to make some gifts (apart from baking), start planning now.  The lazy days of summer may be the best time to knit that sweater, make the jewelry, or compile the scrapbook.  Some things can only be done in the summer.  Take advantage of seasonal produce to make jam and pickles or can peaches and tomatoes.  A basket filled with your home preserves makes a lovely gift and brings the summer alive in the depths of winter.

Thanksgiving Nerves

Several times today, people have mentioned to me that they are nervous about hosting Thanksgiving.

I guess I don't really understand that.  The people you are inviting to your table are people who care about you. They want you to succeed. (If the people at your table want you to fail, you need to rethink your guest list!)

No one is taking pictures for a glossy magazine.  No one is filming for the Food Network. People just want to eat good food with people they love.  If you put food on the table and you are relaxed and enjoying yourself, everyhting will follow.  I promise.