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.

November grocery money journal -- mid month

Oct. 31. Stopped by produce stand late afternoon to pick up Items I thought would be gone the next day on clearance. Bought  eggplant, green peppers, potatoes, cabbage, pumpkins, winter squash, garlic, and oranges. Spent $28.79

Nov. 1. Stopped in at grocery store to pick up a couple of items, canned veggies, salt, Lact-aid milk, 1 loaf of bread (I'll start up my bread baking again over the weekend, hopefully), squash (on sale). Spent $15.61, bringing the running total to $44.40

Stopped one last time in afternoon at produce stand clearance, bought more garlic, mushrooms, avocados and sugar pie pumpkins. Spent $7.33, total for month -- $51.73   yowza!  But it's a lot of produce.

Breakfast this morning was leftover oatmeal from Monday. This was homemade maple-brown sugar oatmeal. Very tasty! As a kid I loved that flavor most, in the little packets. now, I just try to make something very similar but with my ingredients.

Tonight's a dance class night, so a rushed dinner. I'm making sloppy lentil joes (with leftover lentil mix from the other night) and homemade buns. These are especially good with cheese melted on the joes. Also, finishing off the last container of applesauce from the freezer, and making kale and onions. The kale in the garden looks fantastic. I'm looking forward to few weeks of kale in dinners.

Nov. 2. Restaurant supply for 50 pounds stone ground whole wheat, 50 pounds white flour, 25 pounds corn meal (yea! got that before any price spiking due to corn crop failure this summer), and a gallon of oil. Spent $54.43

Breakfast was pumpkin-spice cinnamon buns (unfrosted this time, very good, just barely sweet) and apple muffins. These were the last of the baked goodies I made on Monday.

Dinner was a Mexican lentil soup, chock full of goodies like green peppers, tomatoes, jalapenos, and avocado. Plus I cooked up a small pumpkin from the garden this morning to make muffins, to go with the soup. Dessert was a blackberry cobbler, made with blackberries from the freezer. Keeping with using up items in the freezer every day, to make room for turkeys and ham in just a couple of weeks.

Tomorrow's breakfast will be corn griddle cakes. Special request from my daughters. We haven't had them in quite a while, and with the new sack of cornmeal bought today, that was top of their list.

Nov. 4. Eight tacos (split between the 5 of us) at Jack-in-the-box after church. One of the cheaper options in fast food, at $4.34 for the 8.

Nov. 7. On campus of my daughters' hopeful university -- orange juice for $2.18 at the mini-mart and lunch in the cafeteria for $27.60, brings the month to date total to $140.28

Nov. 9. Friday afternoon and will want eggs for baking and pancakes this weekend. Stopped in Trader Joes, picked up 2 dozen eggs and a container of tofu (I just like having tofu in the fridge, as I can quickly throw together a stir-fry with tofu, some veggies and soy sauce, for an easy meal). I resisted the urge to buy all sorts of delicious looking heat and eat foods while there. We did enjoy a couple of samples and the free coffee. Spent $5.07

Nov. 10. Out running errands and decided to check the grocery store for marked down milk and other products. Good thing I made this my first stop, as they had just 2 gallons of milk on mark down, and I noticed several other shoppers' carts -- filled with marked down items, from yogurt and milk to boxes of mushrooms and packages of sausages. This is an upscale store, in an upscale neighborhood. Their mark-down items had previously been bypassed by their shoppers. A sign of the times? People seem more willing to try these marked down products.

While the recession may have officially ended, I think many folks still feel it. Perhaps they took jobs at reduced salaries and have been digging into their savings. Or maybe the higher price of gas has siphoned money out of grocery budgets and into the gasoline tanks. Anyway, 2 gallons of milk, spent $4.18, bringing month-to-date total up to $149.53.

Nov. 14. Eggs on sale at Walgreen's for $1.29/dozen. I bought 7 dozen, which will last for us about 1 month. My daughters asked about freezing eggs, should we not be able to go through all of them before their expiry. I told them how I've frozen them before, beating in a bit of sugar or salt (per instructions in my old Joy of Cooking cookbook) and freezing in 1/4 cup portions. These egg-cubes can then be thawed and used in baking. Alternatively, I like to beat and cook eggs in a non-stick skillet, 4 at a time, then cut into quarters and freeze in a stack, each piece separated by waxed paper. These are great for making quick breakfast sandwiches. And of course, I will likely put together 2 breakfast casseroles for the freezer, for both Christmas breakfast and New Year's brunch. Gee, I may just want another couple of cartons of eggs. Spent $9.03

Nov. 15. Grocery store number one for turkeys. Spent $41.46. For that amount, bought 9 packages cream cheese, a half cup of pecans, a large bag of sunflower seeds (for sunflower seed butter), 2 cans green beans, 2 cans corn, 3 packages Hebrew National hot dogs (marked down), celery, a bag of black eyed peas (for New Year's Day), a jar of mayo, 2 canisters of salt, and a 23 lb turkey. I had to spend a minimum of $30 to "get" to buy a turkey for 49c per pound. Before the price of the turkey, I was at $30.18. I tried to get as close to that $30 mark as possible. (I was a bit miffed at this store. Gift cards were not allowed towards that $30 spend, and it wasn't in the flyer as such. I got up to the checkout, didn't get my sale priced turkey, waited around for a manager for about 5 minutes, had a long line full of angry people behind me, and finally a manager shows up and tells me I couldn't use a gift card towards the purchase. So I had to go back into the store and add to my shopping. I very carefully tallied everything as I went. I was not about to give that store more of my money than I had to.)

Anyways, this brings my total for the first half of the month to $200.02. And the month is only half over!

To see how the month ends, click here.


just a note, unrelated to this post. Life around our place has taken a turn recently. My attentions are distracted right now, as we adjust to a "new normal". If you read a lot of other blogs, or you keep a blog yourself, and notice a lack of my presence right now on other blogs, please understand that some issues with my family are taking front seat to all else in my life, including the blog world. Thanks for understanding.

The Thanksgiving countdown: Easy as pie!

About a week before Thanksgiving, I begin some of the meal preparations. This year I'm having to begin one day early, due to scheduling.

I make out my plan of attack, and every day tackle one or two items on my list. Yesterday, I baked one of the pumpkins and pureed it for pie, and made a batch of freezer pie dough (recipe here).

Most of the time, I make this dough and freeze in patties for single crusts. For Thanksgiving, I like to get the dough into a pie plate and get that step done, as well. 

one batch made enough dough for 4 shells, 

1 top crust and just enough leftover scraps 

 for a nice little rustic apple tart

While I was at it I decided to just roll all the dough. My recipe makes enough dough for 5 single crusts. I have a stack of aluminum pie pans, so used several of those.

And for the last 1/5th of the dough, I rolled it to be a topper for a 2-crust pie, or for a deep dish turkey pot pie, some dinner in the future. After rolling this piece out, I placed it between two layers of plastic wrap and then rolled it around an empty paper towel tube.  

The pie crusts in the pie pans are separated by sheets of waxed paper. And all the dough is wrapped in a couple of layers of plastic grocery bags. All are now tucked in the freezer, ready to use. 

To use one unbaked pie crust, I'll thaw it on the kitchen counter for a few hours, then use as I would freshly mixed dough.

In all, this took me about an hour (including putting the tart together), and provides several ready-made pie crust for easy pie making.

Thanksgiving menu: Simplified sides -- Praline topped sweet potato souffle

Simplified sides

I have a handful of side dishes for holiday meals that can either be frozen to heat and serve on the big day, or completely cooked in the microwave in 15 minutes or less.

This one is a family favorite that you can prepare a week or two in advance and freeze. Then the day before serving, thaw overnight, and bake just before meal time. Or, you can prepare it all to bake that same day.

Praline-topped sweet potato souffle

6 medium sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled and quartered
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 egg
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. cloves, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg)
1/4 teaspoon salt

for topping, combine:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, melted

• In a food processor or with electric mixer, whip until fluffy, all ingredients except topping.
• Transfer to a greased, freezer-safe casserole dish. Sprinkle topping over yams. Cover and freeze.
• To bake, thaw overnight in the refrigerator. 
• Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F, for 25 to 30 minutes (until puffed and lightly browned).

Updates on my indoor plants and plant experiments this fall.

It's strange, but I do okay with the garden, but I'm horrible with indoor plants. However, this fall and winter, I am making a supreme effort. 

It looks like I got my weeping fig back in the house just in time. It only dropped 3 leaves after moving it back in. After last year's massive leaf drop, I thought I'd did that poor baby in. But it survived, and is looking pretty good after it's summer in the fresh air.

I lost one of my amaryllis bulbs to rot, this summer out on the deck. Maybe it got watered too much? I'm not sure. Anyways, 3 survived and I'm trying to get them to bloom again.

My stevia -- if you'll remember I brought my stevia plant indoors around the first of September. Stevia needs a warm climate to be a perennial. So, I brought it indoors to overwinter, and will hopefully move it back out next spring. Right now, it's green and healthy, but leggy. It not only requires heat, but strong light as well. 

This plant also tends to dry out quickly indoors. I have it in a terra cotta pot. But I'm hoping to transplant it into a plastic pot with saucer, in part to reduce drying out, but also so that I can move it to a sunnier window (on a wood floor, the terra cotta might ruin it).

I took one cutting of the stevia already this fall. I should be able to cut more in a few weeks.

As for using stevia leaf (it's taste is different than stevia extract, being a whole leaf) -- I dislike it in coffee, find it okay in tea, but love it in cocoa! When I ground the dried stevia leaves, I added some sugar to the grinding, to improve the flavor. It's much like the Truvia blend, the commercial blend of stevia and sugar. Using this in cocoa is great. I'm going to try using some in homemade chocolate pudding soon.

My pot of basil -- about the same time I brought in the stevia, I also brought in a pot of basil that I'd started mid-summer. The basil is doing really well. Because it tends to be a slow grower, it has not become the least bit leggy, not yet. I pinched it back this past weekend, for a large pot of pasta and pizza sauce. I've got this in a plastic pot with plastic saucer and it sits in the sunniest of windows already. The only thing I think it needs is a bit of plant food. Otherwise its doing great. 

And an interesting note, at Trader Joes last Friday they were still selling potted basil. I didn't check the price. I was just so surprised to see that they still had them in stock. This is Seattle, where the daytime high temps are in the 50s this time of year, not exactly basil weather. So maybe indoor basil does better than I know.

My lettuce under lights -- it looks healthy, but stunted. I think the plants need repotting into larger containers. If I can get to Home Depot to pick up some potting soil soon, I'll move these plants into larger containers, and hopefully they'll grow just a bit more. I'll let you know if it helps or hinders.

My rosemary under lights -- this is just a tiny seedling, started from seed this summer. It looks healthy and happy, but could use a large pot as well. It could go outside on the deck for winter, but I did start it late and it may have been too young to stay outdoors in the cold.

So far, I'm keeping them all alive (except that one amaryllis bulb). That in itself is quite a feat for me. We'll see how the rest of fall and winter go.

Are you good with indoor plants? Do you have any tips for those of us with black thumbs?

Acquiring containers

Have you ever bought something, just so you could have the container? Tell me that I'm not the only one who does this! Sometimes I find a something or other that's just okay, but it's in a great container. I acquired a couple of very nice glass jars that way -- some "gourmet" food items, found on clearance at Marshall's, in old-style glass storage jars with wire bail closures.

I'll also buy grocery store items, with the idea that the container would be perfect for some use. See the above photo. The rectangular plastic containers held baby food. Nope, no babies around here. But I liked their size, about 2-3 tablespoon capacity each. They looked perfect for small amounts of trail mix, raisins or nuts, to be packed in brown bag lunches.

The day that I stumbled upon these, I scoured the baby food aisle, trying to find something that would truly be useful to me. That's when I found the baby food prunes. Baby food prunes make excellent fat substitute in baked chocolate items. I substitute pureed prunes for butter in brownies, hot fudge pudding cake and chocolate cupcakes. The prune taste is almost completely masked by the cocoa powder. So, for less than a dollar, I got 2 of these containers, with the pureed prunes as a bonus.

These small plastic containers with lids are not easy to find. Many of the fast food ones collapse too easily. The oval container, above, is a sturdy one. It held salad dressing from a catered brown bag lunch that my husband attended. This container holds about 1/4 cup, also a good size.

The carved wooden, sectioned box on my desk, holding my paper clips, rubber bands, butterfly clips and push pins, is also one of these buy-the-item-just-for-the-box acquisitions. I found it on sale, holding packets of spices. I loved the box, the spices were merely a bonus. Yard sales, thrift shops and mark down racks can be terrific shopping venues for finding containers with greater value than their contents.

Lili's Pumpkin Soup

Someone recently asked for my pumpkin soup recipe. So, the other night, I actually paid attention to what I was doing while making a pot of it, and took notes. Do you have dishes that you prepare that you just add some of this, a little of this, and taste to see what else it needs? I was trying to tell my son how much mayo to add to some cole slaw dressing the other evening, and just said "a glob of mayo". How does one quantify a glob of anything? So, as I said, with this soup, I paid attention this time, and actually measured what I usually use.

This is not a blow-your-socks-off kind of soup. There are no extraordinary ingredients. You won't need to comb the shelves of the local gourmet shop for anything in the recipe. You may already have just about everything it calls for, in your kitchen right now. It's a basic, yet very delicious, pumpkin soup. 

Lili's Pumpkin Soup (5-6 servings)

1 tablespoon any cooking oil
1 large onion, sliced thin, then rough chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
the flesh of one roasted 2 lb. sugar pie pumpkin, or 2 cups canned pumpkin puree
6 cups water and/or stock (chicken stock is preferred, but ham stock is also nice, and water will be fine, too)
dash red pepper flakes
1 large russet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup shredded, cooked chicken breast
1 cup diced ham
pinch nutmeg
salt, to taste (depends on whether your stock is already salted, 1 to 2 teaspoons)
1 shallot, finely minced 


Heat a large stockpot over Medium. Add oil and onion. Saute onion until golden. Add minced garlic and cook 1 minute.

Add pumpkin, 4 cups of stock and/or water and the red pepper flakes. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

After cooking -- If your pumpkin is not pureed (for example, I roasted my pumpkin in the morning, then scraped the flesh from the skin upon cooking the soup), then either mash well with a potato masher, or use an immersion blender (I just mashed mine).

Add diced potato and 2 remaining cups of stock or water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 more minutes, stirring occasionally, to prevent scorching. Mash or blend the potatoes into the soup.

Add chicken, ham, nutmeg, and salt to taste. Heat for 5 minutes (until meats are heated through). Stir in minced shallot and serve.


I've made this with just chicken, just ham, no meat whatsoever, and with both meats. The consensus is it's at its best with both meats. I prefer using a fresh pumpkin over canned. Homecooked pumpkin has a prettier color and lighter flavor than canned. For the liquid, I prefer half chicken stock and half water. This soup is also delicious made with squash in lieu of the pumpkin, butternut squash being the favorite. One other bonus -- the leftovers freeze very well. I freeze the soup in single-size portions, for my weekday lunches.

If you liked this recipe, my name is Lili and I've been happy to provide it for you. Please leave a comment in the "comment field". If you didn't like this recipe, my name is . . .um. . .er. . .Bob, and I think the comments are malfunctioning today, yeah, that's it, the comments aren't working, so don't bother leaving one.

Thanksgiving menu planning and the T-Day calorie counter

It's less than two weeks till Thanksgiving, here in the US. I can't believe it's so soon! Anyways, it's time to get the big meal plan under way. 

Turkey--check, mashed potatoes with lots of butter--check, praline-topped sweet potato souffle--check, green bean casserole--check, dinner rolls--check, bread stuffing--check, gravy--check, cranberry sauce--check, pumpkin pie--check, pecan pie--check, caramel apple cake--check    

Whoa! Time to see if my body can even handle this amount of food. Here's something that may interest you (calorie counter for Thanksgiving dinner). Simply enter the food you plan on consuming, and see what it all amounts to, and just how much exercise you'll need to do in order to burn it off. I know, I'm a spoil-sport, making you see just how gluttonous we Americans are on the big T-day.

Anyways, check it out. It may help you refine and slim your Thanksgiving meal plan. I know it definitely inspired me to rethink our traditional favorites. 

I'll be making leaner versions of many of our family favorites, for example, serving pumpkin chiffon pie (instead of pumpkin custard, saves about 50 cals per serving) and skipping the pecan pie altogether. 

I'll do a lean green bean casserole (with a homemade alternative to the fried onions, and a mock cream of mushroom soup, shaving about 100 cals per serving). 

Substituting chicken broth for half of the butter in the bread dressing and the mashed potatoes (hey, even I like a little butter), will save about 35-50 calories per serving of each dish. 

I'm working on the recipes for some alternative ingredients in our family's favorite caramel apple cake, as well as in the cranberry sauce (I may use some stevia for part of the sugar, and applesauce for part of the fat in the cake). 

We may forgo the dinner rolls, as there will be bread stuffing, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes -- probably enough starchy stuff. 

And I'm planning on adding a couple of healthier sides, like an apple slaw salad, and a kale and broccoli dish.

How about you? What's on your Thanksgiving menu? Do you give much thought to how heavy or light your Thanksgiving meal will be? 

Some people can just take small amounts of all these delicious foods. Not me. I'm not terribly disciplined if the food is all set out before me. I seem to do better if I begin by preparing lighter versions of our favorites.

Pumpkin-spice Cinnamon Buns

It really looked like November yesterday. The skies were gray with clouds, fog in the morning, just a few colorful leaves clinging to branches, and the air has turned quite cool. All of this outdoors, and then indoors, a cozy fire in the fireplace. It was a perfect day to bake something with a traditional fall flavor -- Pumpkin-Spice Cinnamon Buns.

These are a mildly sweet yeast bread, just as is, but a favorite of my kids when iced. The dough also makes a delicious crescent roll, without the added filling or icing, for the holiday table.

Pumpkin-Spice Cinnamon Buns

1/4 cup warm water
1  3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup warm milk
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
6 tablespoons (3/8 cup) canned pumpkin puree (if using homemade, strain in a mesh strainer for 30 minutes to thicken)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2  1/4 cups flour (adding more as needed)

In a medium-size bowl, soften yeast in the warm water. Add sugar and salt.

While yeast is softening, heat the milk in microwave. Stir in butter and pumpkin. When this is just lukewarm, add to yeast mixture.

Stir in spices and flour (1 cup at a time, until a nice dough forms, one that doesn't stick to a surface. Additional flour, as needed).  Knead dough 7-8 minutes. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour at 68 degrees F).

Punch down. Roll out into a rectangle, on a floured surface, until about 14 inches by 8 inches. Spread with soft butter (about 2 tablespoons). Sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Roll the dough up along the long edge, to make a roll 14 inches long. Pinch the seam. Cut into 16 mini cinnamon rolls.

Place on a buttered baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Cover and allow to rise until double, about 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes (until tops are golden). Ice with a buttercream or cream cheese frosting, if desired.

These freeze well, unfrosted. When we want some, I thaw, heat briefly, then add icing.