Category — Holiday

Turkey!?! Is it too early to begin worrying and wondering what you’re going to do with your leftover turkey?  Since Thanksgiving is one week from today, I don’t think so.  After turkey sandwiches,  I think leftover turkey works best treated with a Mexican or a Western flair, so that’s what I’ve provided for you today.

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Happy Birthday to my dear mother-in-law, Patricia Hopkins, who turns 85 today! We are in Rockton, Illinois to celebrate with her.  It was a short five years ago that the whole family threw Mom an 80th birthday party. The pictures here are from that lovely November day, five years ago. The first is of Mom and her three sons; Roger, Tom, and Dave.  In the next, she is pictured with her three daughters-in-law; myself, Beth, and Debra. And lastly, a picture of the birthday buffet. (And now I’ve added a photo at the bottom from this year’s 85th birthday dinner)

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… until Thanksgiving!

If you are hosting and you need help – then you need my “Thanksgiving Planning Guide and Sample Timeline” which I first posted 2 years ago. CLICK HERE to take you to that helpful page. Plus, today I have a special Thanksgiving bonus.  I found the most adorable vintage place cards on Pottery Barn’s website. CLICK HERE to download the place cards.

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If this soup doesn’t scream “AUTUMN” to you, I don’t know what does! You can find the pre-cut butternut squash at Costco and Trader Joe’s. Pictured below is one whole fresh butternut and a 2-pound package from Costco.

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Weekly Tip #5

When beating the eggs for your Thanksgiving pumpkin pie or any other custard pie, brush a little of the beaten egg over the pie shell and set it in the freezer for 10 minutes. This helps seal the crust and keeps it crisp.

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Weekly Tip #4

This week’s tip, actually tips, have to do with poaching fruit for seasonal desserts and how to keep those fruits from turning brown.  These are a couple of helpful methods, which one you use depends on what you have on hand.

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As far back as I can remember, our pre-trick-or-treating tradition has been to have everyone gather around the grill and make their own pizza. Our neighborhood is famous for a great Halloween. All the streets are cul-de-sacs and on many of those streets, the families all gather at the entrance and put out tables where the kids can just come up to table and pick candy from five bowls placed out (1 from each house). Meanwhile the adults socialize, eat, drink and just have a great time together.

There are already loads of kids in neighborhood, but it seems everyone invites all their friends to come here to trick-or-treat too.

Other houses set up elaborate haunted houses that attract not only the kids, but the adults, as well. Joannie, my neighbor from 2 doors down, dresses up as a witch each and every year and makes the kids do a trick before they get their treat, her house is a destination for the kids!

We go through 4 or 5 huge bags of Costco-sized candy each year. When my two kids were young, we’d have at least another dozen kids at our house (from outside the neighborhood) over to have pizza and then head out for their candy. [Read more →]

… from Mother Nature and Father Time!

Dave and I at our neighborhood Halloween Party on Saturday night.

It was always our Halloween tradition to make grilled pizzas before the kids went out to trick-or-treat. It didn’t matter if it was just the four of us, or if each of the kids had a dozen friends over, each person present made their own personal-size pizza. Dave and I and any of our friends who pop over will be making pizzas tonight out on the grill.  I’ll share the recipe and pictures with you tomorrow.

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Since standing on my feet in the kitchen for long periods of time is out of the mix at the present time, how about a holiday craft? Now, I already told you in the first installment of Crafts 101, I am not a crafty person… not by a long shot.  In fact, for this particular craft, I needed professional help. Recently, Peggy and I took a class from the very talented Cindy and Lin Sue of Sweet-Stops on how to make these luxurious fabric pumpkins, which are perfect from the first day of fall, all the way through Thanksgiving. Now that’s some bang for your buck! And when I say “buck” –  I literally mean about one dollar! Depending on the fabric you use, or if you use scraps you already have on hand, these beautiful pumpkins may cost no more than that. If you’ve seen them in boutiques, you already know they go for anywhere from $20 to $40 each! That’s just crazy talk!

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I am finally letting my subscription to Family Fun magazine run out. I’ve been in denial for …oh, let’s say the past 8 years, that my family status (meaning the ages of my two remarkable and incredibly talented children) has long passed the prime target audience of this great magazine. Kinda like a 25 year old still subscribing to Seventeen Magazine… it’s just sad!

But, if YOU happen to have young kids or grandkids, you NEED to get this magazine! There are SO many great ideas for crafts, vacations, recipes, backyard fun, parties, and on and on and on! But since my “kids” are 20 and nearly 24 – it is seriously time for me to let it go. Well, now we celebrate everything in normal adult ways. Like, for Halloween, we could throw a party for friends and family or have a quiet night with a horror movie marathon (choose movies through hellhorror.com or equivalent websites). However, I still miss the magazine since it provided great fun ideas.

As a matter of fact, Family Fun was born the same year as Connor – founded in 1991 by Disney and it is the country’s number one magazine for families with children ages 3-12, with more than 2 million subscribers. Now, if one of my two were to get married and have a child (BIG HEADS UP…that is the “right” order – BTW!) then, I will immediately re-subscribe! Until then, I shall reminisce with a couple of my favorite Halloween ideas taken directly from the pages of my beloved Family Fun… Oh yeah, and here are my truly awful photos from when I could not remember how my own camera worked at 4 AM… yeah, good times!

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