That Girl Guide

Every couple feels torn at the holidays about which family you should spend the holidays with.  Your family will not like to hear this but you need to do what is best for you.  Many of us choose the path of least resistance and end up eating Thanksgiving twice and running from place to place on Christmas.  All this running around can take the fun right out of the holiday season.  I am going to share a few options that we have tried out over the years. 

• Switch holidays and make sure it is equitable.  We spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with his family.  Each year we would rotate spending either Thanksgiving or Easter with each side of the family.  We did this right after we were married in the interest of keeping everything fair. 
• After we bought our home, we wanted to start hosting some holiday meals.  So we took the plunge and invited both sides of the family to our house each year for Thanksgiving.  It has worked out great and now we get to see everyone we care about. 
• We have begun to spend some holidays alone, not because we are anti-social but because we actually enjoy spending time together.  It is nice to just have some down time to relax and enjoy a holiday meal on our schedule.  We got sick of rushing to open presents and skipping breakfast on Christmas morning to get somewhere for dinner.  This was a tougher sell for our families, but I think the key is to communicate your intentions ahead of time.  Telling Grandma after she bought the turkey is rude.  So bite the bullet and be honest about your holiday plans. 

Some people are of the mindset that appetizers ruin your guests appetite.  I personally believe that it is better to keep the guests happy in case your turkey takes longer to cook than expected.  The last thing you want are hungry guests that want appetizers when you are trying to pull together a holiday meal with so many side dishes.  I do feel that it is best to keep appetizers simple on Thanksgiving because the real feast is when dinner is served.  A variety of things to snack on is best. 

Nuts – Salted Almonds, Natural Pistachios, or Spicy Cashews are wonderful to snack on.  And guilt free since you will be eating so many carbs for dinner. 

Sweet Treats – Chocolate Truffles, Mints, cookies, maple syrup candies.

Dips – Olive tampanade with a whole wheat baguette. 

Cheese – A cheese tray with Brie, gorgonzola, and cheddar with a baguette and crackers is simple yet elegant.  Also put some grapes, pears, apples, and honey on your cheese platter to take it from ordinary to extraordinary. 

We are expecting about 20 people to come join us for dessert on Thanksgiving.  I am not stressed about it because I will be ready with a variety of choices so everyone will satisfy their sweet tooth.  I have a carafe marked decaf, a carafe for regular coffee, and the stainless carafe that goes with my coffee maker.  All the coffee will be pre-ground and pre-measured for one pot and placed in labeled plastic bags with decaf/regular.  We wil arrange the desserts, serving tools, coffee, and accompaniments on a buffet table and allow guests to help themselves to second helpings of dessert or coffee.  Please see our menu below…  Who wouldn’t love something from this list?

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Crumb Pie

Peanut Butter Pie

Italian Butter Cookies

Chocolate Truffles

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Biscotti

We are blessed with many wonderful friends and though I wish that I had the room to entertain everyone for Thanksgiving we simply don’t.  So my solution this year was to invite family for dinner and our friends for dessert.  We had invitations printed for 4:00 for dinner guests and 8:00 for dessert guests.  The long time lag is so I can make sure that everything has been cleaned up from dinner before the dessert guests join us.  It is a great compromise and now we are not forced to choose between spending holidays with our friends or our family – we can have the best of both worlds. 

I try to add something new each year to my Thanksgiving Menu.  There are some traditional parts of the meal that one should never leave out (turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes).  On Thanksgiving, it is really in the side dishes that make the meal.  This is not a day to open the jar or the freezer, you should take the time to make things from scratch. 

2009 Side Dishes

1) Sauteed Carrots – Heat your pan over medium heat, add olive oil and butter, add the carrots and a sprinkling or herbs de provence or fresh time, salt and pepper.  Cook until tender and slightly caramelized. 

2) Homemade applesauce -

3) Cranberry Sauce – not that nonsense they sell in a can! 

4) Roasted Squash 

You can cube squash, add olive oil, sage, salt and pepper and roast at 400 degrees like you would a potato.  You can also roast it whole and then add brown sugar, salt, pepper, and butter afterwards.  It just depends on whether you like it sweet or savory.  The important thing is that you don’t serve your guests that awful frozen baby food like squash. 

Most people have the impression that a centerpiece has to be an expensive endeavour.  But there are so many things you can use to make a beautiful and budget friendly centerpiece. 

1) Simple gourds arranged in a silver bowl.  Make sure you have a variety of colors and shapes. 

2) Glitter small pumpkins and gourds and arrange in a bowl.  Use fine and high quality glitter, Martha Stewart makes some great products that are sold at Michaels. 

3) A decorative bowl with apples and plums.  What better way to celebrate the fruits of the season?

4) Invest in a rose bowl so you can simply pick up a dozen roses at your supermarket.  You may have to carefully open the leaves so there aren’t any gaps between the roses.  Most stores have a dozen roses priced at $10-$15. 

5)  Pick up a fish bowl and float some candles or dahlias in it. 

6) Candles….  You can pick up unscented tea lights or taper candles almost anywhere.  You want to make sure they are unscented so the smell does not compete with the food.  They are inexpensive and everyone looks fabulous in candlelight (even after overindulging in a holiday meal). 

Here is my simple recipe for Pumpkin pancakes. 

Mix enough pancake batter for 4 servings (and dare I say that it is fine to use a mix)

Add a 15 oz. can of pumpkin, one teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg, one tablespoon of pure vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. 

Serve the pancakes with warm maple syrup and a touch of butter.  These pancakes pair nicely with a cappuccino, hot mulled cider, or your favorite autumnal blend of coffee.  Pancakes make a great breakfast dinner and your holiday guests or family will love these over the holidays. 

Everyone loves a nice cool drink on a warm summerday.  But we can get sick of the same old thing.  Lemonade is a great choice – but add a new flair with cherry flavored vodka or a dash of pomegranate juice.  Sometimes it is one little addition that makes all the difference.  When you make the simple syrup to sweeten the lemonade add mint leaves or lavender.  Another popular summer drink is Sangria, but make a white sangria instead, which I personally find more refreshing than a sangria made with a heavier red wine.  So find a sweet white wine like a Riesling and add lemonade with some thin lemon slices.  Or you can use pinot grigio and add white grape juice and sparkling water.  Make sure you have a nice assortment of beers and frosted mugs to serve them in.  No one wants a warm beer on a hot day! 

We had a quiet Valentines at home this year and were quite shocked to see the long lines at our local supermarket.  Evidently many of us stayed in this year.  We decided to splurge a bit on Black Truffles and just had a simple dish of angel hair pasta tossed with butter, truffle oil, salt, pepper, and the star of the dish being black truffles shaved over the top of the pasta.  We had a great bottle of wine and chocolate truffles for dessert which was heaven with the 1999 Brunello di Montalcino.  So next time Valentine’s Day rolls around consider a night in with better food and wine than you will get in a crowded restaurant with a limited menu. 

Since everyone remembers a fabulous dessert, the cake you have at a celebration be it a birthday cake, wedding cake, anniversary, or even a holiday you must pay special attention to the cake.  Consider having a specialty cake made to match the honoree’s interests, profession, or personality.  I had a birthday party for a friend that loves jewelry – we had a beautiful and delectable cake made to look like a Tiffany’s box complete with the white satin bow.  He loved it and it was the talk of the party.  A simple gesture like this is something your guest of honor will never forget.  So find a creative bakery in your area and ask for something custom.  Don’t limit yourself to those ordinary cakes with flowers piped on them.  How on earth did that become the standard? 

A wonderful bakery out of Rochester New York is Vanilla Swirl.  They will accomodate any request and have so many options for cakes and custom cookies.  I believe they ship as well so contact them if you can’t find a bakery of this caliber in your area.  They are a pleasure to deal with and I’ll list their link below. 

http://www.vanillaswirl.com/contactus.htmlhttp://www.vanillaswirl.com/contactus.html