Friends. Just one of the things on my "grateful for" list. And
look who made our Thanksgiving extra special this year...
Labels: friends, Thanksgiving
If you live in America, you know that tomorrow is perhaps the biggest cooking day of the year. I know some will argue that Christmas is, but around these Suburban parts, Thanksgiving is all about family, good food, and- well- thankfulness.
But there does seem to be a problem I run into every single time: what can I cook/bake ahead of time to free up some oven/stove space? Now I have at least one solution- I make my mashed potatoes ahead of time. For instance, if we plan to eat at 3:00, I would make my mashed potatoes around noon time, get them seasoned and creamy, just the way we like them, and put them in my crockpot on LOW (this is important, people- do NOT set it on HIGH). Before putting on the lid, I drizzle just a bit of either cream or chicken broth on the top surface so I don't have little crispy peaks when all is said and done.
You know where the other great tips are- go, go, go! And Happy Thanksgiving.
Labels: works for me
You know I've talked about the making lunches routine before. Well, once again, the freezer saves my day- day after day.
My children do not all like the same kind of sandwiches- shocker! Two like mustard; two do not. One likes salami; three do not. One likes PBJ; one just likes PB; and two have grown tired of it altogether. You can see how this might become time consuming on a rushed morning, right? Well, I tried something during the summer. I made several meat and cheese sandwiches, cut them in half, sealed them in a sandwich bag, and shoved them in the freezer. I packed a picnic lunch one day soon after with the frozen sandwiches, and, to my utter delight, they were perfectly fine when thawed.
Then I moved on to PBJ experimentation. I figured if grocery stores could charge $2.50 for four PBJ's in cute little tart shapes (with no crusts), then I could stick one measly PBJ sandwich in the freezer. So I did. Fine again. I even found a tart maker in my bag of tricks.
Now I will use a whole loaf of bread to make one kind of sandwich and place them all in a large sealed container in the freezer. Lather, rinse, repeat with other varieties of sandwiches. In the morning I just select the appropriate sandwich for the appropriate child, pop it in a sandwich container and into the lunchbox!
Go on over and find out what other great tips await!
Labels: works for me
