Heather says: How are you serving your meal? Will it be family style with everyone seated around the table or are you setting up a buffet where everyone helps themselves? Now it’s time to take a look at your menu and take an inventory of your serving dishes. Next to each menu item write down …
Heather says: If you have ever even given cornbread dressing a favorable nod, add this shrimp and andouille sausage recipe to your repertoire right this very moment. Heck, don’t even wait until Thanksgiving or Christmas to give this side dish a try. Yes, you want to double the recipe, it’ll work as an amazing post-Thanksgiving …
Heather says: Let’s make sure everyone is on the same page. We’ve found the dining room table, made a guest list (and invited them), we have made a soft menu plan, and if you’ve never even roasted a chicken that’s on the to-do list, right? Also, if you’re anything like me, you may need to …
Heather says: Yay! Another pen and paper exercise or maybe if you’re wired weird and serving a bunch of people it’ll be a Google spreadsheet. I’m still being teased for that, if you must know. Today’s exercise is not the final menu. Divide your sheet of paper into three columns. Label them: My ideal menu …
Heather says: Thanksgiving will be here in three weeks. If you have company coming, now is not the time to launch any big home improvement type projects. I’m not talking about necessary repair, if you have a hole in your roof, by all means get it fixed. If you’ve never played host over a holiday, …
Heather says: Hurray! It’s time to launch Countdown to Turkey Day 2011. Why yes, I am ridiculously excited about it this year. Oh I know, it’s hard to tell, since I get excited about Thanksgiving every year, but this year? Well, it has been even more exciting as I have had the fantastic opportunity to …
Heather says: First of all, if you are Facebook fan and use Facebook to follow this site, you should be aware that the recent changes may be causing you to miss a majority of Home-Ec 101 updates. If you look at the upper right hand corner of this site, there are several other ways to …
Bran says: I thought I hated brussels sprouts. I think a lot of us have felt that way. After all, to many people, the boiled things that get served up to us as children, sodden and vaguely buttered, are not exactly the most appetizing of vegetables. But brussels sprouts can be a great winter green, …
Heather says: After big events or projects, a lot of companies like to get together and do what they call the postmortem. It’s a way to figure out what went well, what didn’t, and what you should do differently next time. You could do this privately and save it for yourself, but what’s the fun …
Heather says: Tomorrow’s the big day. Are you ready? For many families today is for baking and food prep. Here are few last minute tips to help everything go smoothly. Check the turkey now. Has it completely thawed? No? Use the water bath method to finish defrosting the turkey. If you have several recipes calling for …