If you're the one that is preparing the family Thanksgiving meal this year, perhaps you are already brainstorming about ways you can save money when shopping and decorating for Turkey Day. Believe it or not, Thanksgiving can be affordable, stress-free and you can still end up with plenty of leftovers! Here are 5 Tips for Saving Money this Thanksgiving:
1. Get a free turkey or ham! Did you read that right? Why yes, yes you did! Take a look at all of the promotions and sales papers being sent out by grocery stores in your area. Many grocery stores will offer a free turkey when you buy the bulk of your holiday staples in one trip at their store. Here is an example of a store in the Northeast offering just such a deal! Go get your free turkey or ham! http://www.shoprite.com/cnt/thanksgiving2011.html.
2. If the free turkey or ham deal has a minimum shopping limit required and you aren't planning to spend $300 at the grocery store (like you see on the link above), take a family member that will be joining you this year at your Thanksgiving Feast. Have them buy what they need for Thanksgiving (or just the groceries they already need) and sort out the bill when you get home. Both of you have your pantry stocked for the holidays and the turkey or ham you'll be eating this year was free, saving you anywhere from $25 to $75!
3. If you can't find a deal like this in your area, consider substituting chicken for your turkey, especially if you're cooking for a family of 4-6 people. Poll your family members - I'm always surprised by how many times I hear, "I like chicken better, but you just have to serve turkey at Thanksgiving. It's tradition!" Well, who says you can't start a new tradition this year? Last year I cooked for 4 instead of my usual 12-16 and the chicken was just as big a hit as a turkey would have been! Starting a new tradition of chicken in place of turkey can save you anywhere from $10-$50, depending on how big a turkey you normally buy (and people normally buy more than they need, which leads me to my next tip!).
4. Don't buy more food than you need! Thanksgiving is a feast, but keep the feast in line with the number of people that will be enjoying it! Believe it or not, the average person consumes somewhere in the neighborhood of ONE POUND of turkey on Thanksgiving! That's a lot of gobble gobble (yes, terrible pun intended!), but if you're only serving 4 people, that's only an 8 pound turkey. Don't buy a 16 pound turkey unless you have a LOT of recipes for Thanksgiving leftovers in your arsenal (subscribe to my blog so you'll have plenty of great recipes for after your big Turkey Day Feast!). Get your family to RSVP so that you know exactly how many to cook for.
5. Plan on serving side dishes that use the same ingredients over and over in different combinations. Broccoli Casserole, Potatoes au Gratin, Squash Casserole, homemade Macaroni and Cheese, and Turkey Dressing (which I serve even when I substitute chicken for turkey!) - they all need lots of onions, cheese, milk, garlic and the list goes on. Buying these items (like cheese) in bulk will save you money! Further, if you use these ingredients in multiple dishes, you will have less waste from ingredients you normally wouldn't use. Only use pumpkin pie spice for pumpkin pie? I don't! I also use it for my turkey!
Here's my turkey recipe that my family has been raving over for nearly 15 years (and no, the salt measurement is not a typo - trust me!). This recipe is a must have on your table! I've shared it before, but it's so great that I'm sharing it again.
12-16 pound turkey 2 c. salt 1 c. lt. brown sugar 6 T. Pumpkin Pie Spice 4 c. apple juice 4 c. chicken broth 3 large, sweet yellow onions, peeled & quartered 1.Thaw turkey in the refrigerator at least 2 days before Thanksgiving. 2.The night before roasting, combine salt, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice. 3.Cover the turkey very well in the salt/spice mixture. 4.Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Next morning: 1. Set turkey out (keep plastic wrap on turkey) for 30 minutes to an hour. 2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 3. Place the onion in the roasting pan and set the turkey on top of the onion. 4. Pour the apple juice and broth into the pan, but NOT over the turkey. 5. Tent the turkey (over the breast) with double thick foil (remove foil when only 1/3 of the cooking time is left - see table below for roasting times). 6. Roast for 45 minutes and reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees for remainder of the roasting time. 7. After the turkey has roasted for 1 hour, baste every 30 minutes with the apple juice/broth mixture in the bottom of the pan. 8. When temperature reaches 165 degrees in the breast and 175 degrees in the thigh, it’s done! 9. Remove from oven, tent with foil and allow to “rest” for 20 minutes before carving. Gobble, Gobble! Here's to a wonderful, delicious and affordable Thanksgiving Dinner!
Use a meat thermometer! See #8 under next morning!
Angela McKeller is an award winning recipe writer and author of the cookbook, "Passion on a Plate: Affordable and EASY Gourmet". Follow her on Twitter @kickbackkook and become a fan on facebook at www.facebook.com/kickbackkook
A GREAT post by CandidCupcake from All Things Cupcake.
Did you know that August is National Peach Month? Go celebrate by picking yourself some fresh peaches and trying out a new cupcake recipe. (You better hurry, though, because you’re almost out of time!) This recipe was patterned after the peach cobbler cupcake at Chattanooga Cupcakes in Tennessee. The batter and frosting contain hints of cinnamon, and of course, peaches. It's like the comforting taste of Cinnabon combined with peaches. DELICIOUS!
Here is the recipe (and photo above) from www.manhattanbeach.patch.com :
Peach Cobbler Cupcake Batter
Ingredients:
Directions:
Prepare the box cake mix according to the directions, substituting the peach juice in lieu of the water.
Lightly run peaches through food processor until nicely minced.
Add peaches and cinnamon to cake batter and combine.
Bake in individual cupcake liners.
Cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
What's your favorite cupcake flavor?
This can easily be one of the most frustrating questions that you can hear from a significant other or child when you've had a stressful day or a long week at work. Sometimes, even more frustrating, is the reaction you get. "But Mom, we had that LAST week!" or "But Honey, I'd really rather not have that. I'm more in the mood for {fill in the blank}." If you're like me, and tempted to tell them, "If you don't like it, just do it yourself!" then you're in luck! This is an easy recipe that everyone can build on at the dinner table like legos! It's not just your average taco or burrito. It's fun and a tad different, making it easy on you and the family will look forward to dinner without you having to do much!
6 servings
Optional toppings:
1. In a large skillet, brown the ground beef after you have thorougly mixed in the chili powder, cumin and chipotle chili powder.
2. Once completely browned, add salsa and mix well and turn off heat once heated all the way through.
3. In a rectangle pan, layer the tortillas to create a "crust" on the bottom, cutting them in half to get them to fit properly, if need be.
4.Add your ground beef mixture and sprinkle the cheese on top.
5. Broil (about 2 minutes) in the oven until cheese is melted.
6. Serve immediately with toppings (don't forget extra cheese!) at the table and let everyone build their own, custom slice of Tortilla Pie!
And here is what one version of your tortilla pie can look like!
I'm of the opinion that dinner should be affordable, easy, delcious and simple. I really like to pull out all the stops on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Birthdays, Valentine's Day and other major holidays. It's fun to impress with flambé, everything from scratch pie crusts, rich, champagne cream sauces or delighful, chocolate liqueur fondues. However, we all know that isn't practical for everyday.
My goal is to give you the tools for making eating "in" the new eating "out" everyday, but to also provide you the tools necessary to WOW that special someone, celebrate in style or to throw your child a dream birthday party that kids all over town will be talking about for years to come!
Need ideas? Need cooking advice? Let me know how I can help! Until then, bon appetít!
You know, it's no secret that I absolutely love cooking. However, it's not because I love to clean a mess, measure ingredients, or wait an hour for a delicious cake to be ready. The reason I love to cook?
Well, you see it there on the left. It took me two days to make my giant birthday cupcake. A moist, lemon pound cake decorated in swirled roses with a decadent lemon buttercream frosting. And the muffin liner? Homemade with luscious white chocolate.
See, for me, it's about the end result. It's the "WOW" on my niece's and nephew's faces when they see something like that. It's the fun we have when we make it together or it's all the dancing I do while I'm making it! It's how I approach the process and the impact my cooking will have on others that drives me to make a delicious meal, dessert or cake for a special occasion.
Well, it can't possibly hurt, right? But here are some tips that will make cooking fun, easy and even an event for the family to look forward to!
1. Pick a recipe that the entire family will enjoy eating AND be able to help with. Children love to help and they will eat almost anything when they've had something to do with it. Yes, I had a five year old eating asparagus like french fries one time. Because he HELPED! He just HAD to eat his "fun project"!
2. Read through the entire recipe and make sure you have all of the ingredients. Have the family help measure everything out in the order that the ingredients will be used (this makes the process easy and go more smoothly.
3. This is probably most important! Pick out a favorite cd together and dance to your favorite music while you cook! Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" will get everyone moving and singing and happy and looking forward to the next time you can all "dance" together again! Hey, love her or hate her, Lady Gaga makes great cooking music!
4. If it's a dessert, cooking can be a fabulous way to teach your children the power of sharing. Take some cupcakes, cookies or the like to the neighbors and see your children's faces light up when they see how happy the neighbors are with what THEY made!
Well, I hope you'll trust me on this one. But, if you're skepical, I have a couple of examples to prove my point. In college, I cooked in exchange for sharing books with fellow students. College tuition is expensive and the cost of books was killing me!
One girl shared Spanish books with me in exchange for my cooking dinner. Well, she came over one evening and thought I'd ask her to help me with a traditional Southern dinner. We cooked together, laughed all evening, used our Spanish (blaring Santana and Maná - don't forget the music!) and by the time we got to our Spanish assignment, we were so relaxed and immersed in the language that what we had planned to take several hours, well; it only took about 45 minutes!
Next true story? When I was single, living in my first apartment on my own, a new college graduate, I cooked all of my meals because I couldn't afford to eat out. Well, it was tough to cook for one, so I cooked for neighbors and my maintenance technician. Why? Because I wanted to! But the result I could never have anticipated!
Anything I needed fixed in my apartment was almost always handled the same day! And my neighbors? They were quick to tell me about anything suspicious going on in the building or if a package was left on my doorstep, they would hold it for me, without being asked!
Cooking is a gift. Cooking for your family, your friends, your neighbors, your service providers - it's a gift from your heart! When you give a gift of yourself from your heart, it comes back to you ten fold, even when that's not your intention. After all, I was just looking for someone to share my extra meals/desserts with so that they wouldn't go bad!
If none of that works, consider taking a cooking class. Chefs make it fun, interesting and you'll have a fun, new repertoire to work with, including a few tips up your sleeves to surprise your family with (and cooking classes are GREAT fun to take with your significant other!)
I invite you to give "a love for cooking" a try. I just KNOW you'll love it. Please let me know how it goes for you!
Oh good grief! I'm up to my eyeballs in strawberries! And you know me, I just can't let them go to waste! I had an appearance on Carolina Kitchen where I used strawberries, then a photoshoot where I used strawberries and then I had an event I catered that wanted strawberry cupcakes and so...I have to get rid of these darned strawberries!! ha! So if I didn't before, I do now...
So, here are the muffin tops without making the muffins! 5 - 7 min prep and 8 min to bake. That's some serious Iron Cheffin' I think!!
Side note: If you don't have strawberries, then blueberries, blackberries, peaches, apricots - any fruit would be fine. I just migh omit the cloves. And if you use bananas, don't use that in your cream cheese because it will discolor and look ugly. Always be sure the fruit is purreed, no matter which you use!
Strawberry Muffin Tops with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 c. grated carrots 1/4 c. spiced rum 2 snack-size boxes of raisins 1 c. light brown sugar 4 eggs 1/2 c. applesauce 1 - 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple, drained 3 c. all purpose flour, sifted 1 tsp. salt 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 4 T. Pumpkin Pie Spice 1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (optional) Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting: 2 - 8 oz pkgs cream cheese, softened 1 stick butter, softened 1 1/3 c. 10 x powdered sugar 2 T. bourbon 1/2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 1. Mix grated carrots and 1 c. brown sugar. Pour rum over raisins in a small bowl. Allow both to set for 1 hour (I soaked my raisins in the refridgerator overnight). 2. Beat 4 eggs together until they become light yellow in color. 3. Slowly add sugar and applesauce. 4. Stir in pineapple. 5. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice. 6. Stir in flour mixture, just until dry ingredients are moistened. 7. Stir rum, raisins and carrot mixture together. Scoop out the raisins and carrots and add to cake batter. Do not add the liquid. 8. Fold in to batter. 9. Grease and flour 2 - 10" cake pans (DO NOT USE DARK CAKE PANS! THE EDGES WILL GET TOO CRISPY AND THEY COULD BURN!). I use non-stick spray with flour. You can find it in your "oil" aisle at the grocer. 10. Bake for 35-50 minutes (until cakes spring back to the touch or when toothpick comes out clean). 11. Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto cooling racks and cool for an additional 10-20 minutes. Do not frost cakes until completely cool. Frosting: Prepare frosting while carrots and raisins are soaking and then put in fridge to thicken. 1. Cream together cream cheese and butter. Make sure they are WELL blended! No lumps! 2. Add powdered sugar, 1/3 c. at a time. 3. Add bourbon and pumpkin pie spice. 4. Mix until smooth and refridgerate until ready to use. 5. Frost cake with an off-set cake spatula (the shape makes it very fast and easy to do). 6. Place cake on top of 2 pieces of parchment paper or wax paper so that you don't make a mess of your plate. 7. Apply frosting to first layer and spread nearly to edges. 8. Add 2nd layer and frost the top. 9. Add frosting to edges of cake and quickly frost around the sides of cake as the frosting "drips" over the sides. 10. Carefully remove parchment paper (place cake spatula gently under cake and slowly lift, if necessary). Enjoy!
Have you wondered why cooking is such a chore? Or why you want to make a quick trip to the grocery store and it turns into a 2 hour shopping experience? Well, Memorial Day Weekend, Capital Cadillac gave me a fabulous red SRX to drive for charity and my Ambush Kookover! I'll tell you the role that this SRX played in a moment but here is a peek at our day:
Maura, publisher of Atlanta: 365 days, 365 Things to Do (thank you for making me one of the "things to do", Maura!), was the winner of the "Kick Back and Kook" Ambush Kookover and while she DID know she had won, the pantry didn't. And you know how we can all be a bit averse to change? So, we decided to sneak up on that pantry and AMBUSH IT!
Her pantry wasn't the worst I'd seen by far, but she did have expired products from 2 years ago and her pantry had cookies, crackers, tomato sauce and much more, all jumbled together in a fashion that would make anyone wonder if they had what they needed in there. So, we threw away what was expired, put like items with like items and by the time we were done, we were able to stock her pantry at the grocery store in just 20 minutes and return to her home, preparing Coq au Vin in about the same amount of time for her crock pot. Maura says, "I can say that, just one day later, cooking a meal in my newly-organized kitchen has been a totally different experience!"
A BIG thank you to my volunteer staff: Leighton Gilling, Bethany Bengtson (who also writes for My Voice is Strong - check it out! She's an inspiration.) and her fabulous mother who is a very talented photographer.
So, Capital Cadillac sponsored my Ambush "Kookover" and they are so generous that they will also donate $1000 to The Hope and Light Foundation if I get the most votes on their website. We went to take a picture with Aleena, once of the many children suffering with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and it began to rain. Because of her special equipment (note the bipap breathing machine in the picture), she had to go back inside when the rain began. Do you remember playing in the rain as a child? I just played in the rain last Friday! Imagine if RAIN kept you housebound! Please vote for me so that we can make a difference and fund a cure for the #1 genetic cause of death in children. Just click here and click vote! No registration required and YOU can make a difference! www.bit.ly./AngelaSRX
Thank you for voting and if YOU or someone you know needs a pantry makeover, call me for rates! It's affordable and in the long run, priceless!
Ice Cream Sandwiches with Lavendar and Strawberry Sauce (serves 4) *2 T. Keys Creek Lavendar Farm Lavendar Jelly *1/2 c. strawberries, washed and diced *vanilla bean ice cream *8 thin slices of pound cake or indiv sponge cakes In a sauce pan, combine strawberries and lavendar jelly over medium heat. Heat through until strawberries become a bit soft and remove from heat. Layer one slice of pound cake, one scoop of ice cream, another pieceof pound cake and top with Lavendar and Strawberry Sauce. Top with whipped cream if desired. Enjoy!
Producer - Author - Editor - Food Stylist
Bio courtesy of Virginia Willis' website: www.virginiawillis.com
Virginia Willis is the author of the acclaimed cookbook, Bon Appétit, Y’all! Three Generations of Southern Cooking (Ten Speed Press, 2008).
A graduate of L'Academie de Cuisine and Ecole de Cuisine LaVarenne, Virginia produced Turner South’s Home Plate and the DVD Shirley Corriher’s Kitchen Secrets Revealed! Previously she honed her attention to detail as the Kitchen Director for Martha Stewart Living Television where she supervised the food segments for the Emmy-award winning television show. With MSLTV, Virginia was also responsible for preparing private meals and events for Martha and her guests -- including among others, President Clinton, Aretha Franklin, and Julia Child. As Executive Producer for Epicurious on The Discovery Channel, she traveled the world taping fantastic stories about food - from harvesting capers in the shadow of a smoldering volcano to making authentic mustard in Dijon.
Virginia's wide and varied food career started in Atlanta as an apprentice to Nathalie Dupree. She worked with Dupree on four PBS series and cookbooks, including the James Beard award-winning Comfortable Entertaining. She also spent several years as an editorial assistant with culinary authority Anne Willan on various projects including Cook It Right, an exhaustive tome that documents the various states of "doneness" (and over- and under-"doneness") of everything from whipped cream to braised pheasant.
She is a featured chef in Atlanta Cooks at Home, tester and editor for The All-New Joy of Cooking, author of Pasta Dinners 1,2,3, co-author of Home Plate Cooking, and weekly writer for The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Her work has also appeared in Country Living, Family Fun, and Edible Atlanta.
She has appeared on Real Simple Television, Martha Stewart Living Television, Home Plate, and in TV commercials for Duke’s Mayonnaise and Springer Mountain Farms All-Natural Chicken. As a nationally recognized culinary professional her client list includes The Atlanta Bread Company, Char-Broil, The Coca Cola Company, Denny’s, Disney World, Fresh Express, Logan’s Roadhouse, LongHorn Steakhouse, TGI Friday’s, Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesday, Texas Dairy Queen, Texas Roadhouse, Waffle House, Whole Foods Market, and WingZone.
Virginia is a president of the Atlanta chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, a member of The Atlanta Community Food Bank Advisory Board, Georgia Organics, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Southern Foodways Alliance, and Women Chefs and Restaurateurs.
Discussed in the podcast: Vidalia Onion Confit, Vidalia Onion Quiche, Meme's Fried Chicken and Gravy and Tarragon Chicken Salad. Recipes coming soon!
Yesterday I was shopping and came across rhubarb and thought, "Hmm...I've not made a cobbler in a while and I certainly haven't used rhubarb in a while! Now it's time!" Rhubarb looks like red celery, but tastes almost like tart cherries. Cut off the leaves because they are poisonous! But don't worry, not so poisonous that you have to worry about your well-being. Just cut them off, discard the leaves and wash everything (hands, knife and cutting board, especially) thoroughly.
Enjoy these sweet and tart Strawberry and Rhubarb Cobblers. Delicious!
Strawberry and Rhubarb Cobbler
4-6 servings
2 c. honey granola, finely crushed
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup pomegranate juice or wine
2 c. chopped fresh rhubarb, washed very well
1 c. sliced strawberries
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1 T. water
1/8 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter
Heat oven to 375°F.
Spray bottom and sides of small souffle dishes with cooking spray.
In large bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, lemon peel, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Cut in butter with a pastry blender, beginning with 1/4 of a cup and then adding 1 T. at a time until you get a crumbly mixture without lumps of butter.
Over medium heat in a saucepan, combine rhubarb, brown sugar and strawberries with pomegranate juice or wine and bring to a slow boil, stirring well until brown sugar dissolves.
In a small bowl, combine water and cornstarch and stir until no lumps remain (add 1 tsp of water at a time as needed until lumps are gone, but only if necessary).
Stir in cornstarch/water slurry and when thickened to a pie filling consistency, spoon equal portions into souffle cups.
Top with the granola mixture and bake until golden brown, 15-25 minutes (depending on how brown and crisp you'd like it to become).
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