Tag: homemade

Posted on

Cake Decorating for Christmas

Many of my friends are very crafty and love to make homemade gifts to exchange over the holidays. My good friend Lindsay is especially talented with cake decorating. She made a cake shaped like a Christmas tree and then used sugar fondant in different colors to make the ribbons and ruffles that are the icing on this beautiful cake.

The funny thing is that she had just made a gorgeous Christmas tree skirt out of red and green fabric that looks like ruffles, and she used that as inspiration for this cake. The ruffles on the cake look just like the ruffles on her tree skirt made from real fabric. I wish she had taken a picture of the tree skirt so you could see how much they look alike. She is an amazing talent and I admire her homemade creations.

Posted on

Stuffed Like a Turkey

Today I am still stuffed from all the turkey and side dishes we ate yesterday. I spent the entire day in the kitchen cooking a big traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the side dishes. Everything turned out great except for the homemade yeast rolls. I had made the dough from scratch for the rolls Wednesday night and set them aside to rise, but it was so cold out with this awful winter weather and so drafty in my old kitchen that the dough did not rise and I had to toss them out. That was disappointing, but there was plenty of other food and no one seemed to miss the hot rolls.

My turkey was perfect and one of the biggest ones that I’ve ever cooked. It barely fit into the Reynolds cooking bag, which is what I swear by. The cooking bag keeps the turkey moist and keeps all the juices inside the bag so you have plenty to make gravy. And another trick that I learned is to put the turkey in the bag upside down. Everyone likes to roast their turkey with the breast side up, but that is what drains the juices down and away from the breast meat. If you put the turkey in the oven with the breast down, all the juices run into the breast meat and it is just oozing with delicious juices when you carve it and serve it at the table.

Posted on

Budgeting for the Holiday Feast

My favorite meal of the whole year is always the traditional Thanksgiving feast. I have always enjoyed a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, even the one year that I was so broke that I only had $20 in my budget to spend on the entire meal.

I remember going to the wholesale grocery that year and buying the cheapest possible brand of everything to be able to create a small but traditional Thanksgiving meal. I had to buy a frozen turkey loaf for $6, two white potatoes and one sweet potato, a box of stuffing and a can of generic green beans – I already had a can of mushroom soup at home in the almost empty pantry. I bought four apples and made a pie from scratch with flour and sugar and cinnamon already at home. It was a lot of work doing everything from scratch, but it tasted great and made me realize that I can create a great feast with just a little money.

This year I am spending $20 on just the turkey. It will be the biggest one they have in the store – I love turkey and there is not such thing as too much turkey in my house! The rest of the side dishes and fixings will be a combination of scratch and prepared, depending upon the brands and my taste preferences. And I think I will make an apple pie again – its not that hard to do and they always taste better than store bought pies.