Archive | November, 2011

Cranberry Ice Ring- Day 4: Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving

By on November 15, 2011 in Survival Guide for Busy Moms

Making Delicious Memories This Thanksgiving

It’s Day 4 of Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving and it’s the perfect time to freeze our Cranberry Ice Ring for our Sparkling-Spiced Cranberry Punch.

Toni’s Freeze-Ahead Cranberry Ice Ring for Sparkling-Spiced Cranberry Punch

To make the ring, I use a plastic chip-and-dip server because it has the hole in the middle, like a bundt cake pan.  But you’ll want to make sure your ice ring will fit into your punch bowl.  So, any type of mold will do, like a simple round plastic storage bowl.

Ingredients:

  1. Frozen cranberry juice cocktail- 1 canister, thawed (you can also use bottled cranberry juice)
  2. Cranberries, fresh- 1 cup
  3. Water

Directions:

  1. Pour thawed juice into mold; add water to about an inch below top; mix well
  2. Add cranberries to float on top
  3. Freeze
cranberrypunch41 650x433 Sparkling Spiced Cranberry Punch with Cranberry Ice Ring

Thanksgiving Day

Take ice ring out of freezer right when guest begin to arrive and place in your punch bowl.

 Black Friday

Don’t forget about our Black Friday special for The Organized Cook Weekly Meal Plan System.  The biggest discount-ever- for this monthly subscription that brings you the most recent meal plans straight to your inbox each week is 70% off for one day only!  Order now.

blackfriday250 Kids Thanksgiving Activities

Suggested Punch Bowls

51yeunbFPjL. SL500 AA300 Sparkling Spiced Cranberry Punch with Cranberry Ice Ring

Have Your Side Dish Make An Entrance- Escalloped Carrots

By on November 14, 2011 in Survival Guide for Busy Moms

Easy Thanksgiving Side Dish

My Thanksgiving planning guide “Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving” centers around cooking Thanksgiving Dinner for a large group.  But what if you just need to make a side dish?  Do you take the traditional green bean casserole, or sweet potato pie?  Here’s a side dish that’s easy, affordable and delicious.

Escalloped Carrots

Ingredients:

  1. 5-6 large carrots, sliced into 1/2 inch slices
  2. 4 cups seasoned breadcrumbs

    carrots, breadcrumbs, onion, cheese, milk, butter & salt

  3. onion- 1, minced
  4. shredded cheddar cheese- 2 cups
  5. milk- 2 cups
  6. Butter

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F
  2. Place carrots, breadcrumbs and onion in alternate layers in a buttered casserole dish.
  3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Cover with cheese.
  5. Pour milk over the top.
  6. Bake until bubbly and brown, and carrots are tender approximately 1 hour.
easy thanksgiving side dish

melt butter in bottom of casserole baking dish

easy thanksgiving side dish

dice carrots

easy thanksgiving side dish

layer carrots

easy thanksgiving side dish

and breadcrumbs

easy thanksgiving side dish

after layering onion, pour cheese over the top

easy thanksgiving side dish

and repeat

easy thanksgiving side dish

pour hot milk over the top

 

easy thanksgiving side dish

bake at 375 degrees for about an hour, until bubbly hot, tender and brown

 

easy thanksgiving side dish

in case you were wondering where I got the super groovy measuring cups- Anthropology!

 

Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving menu planning

 

 

Dishing about Dishes- Day 3: Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving

By on November 14, 2011 in Survival Guide for Busy Moms

Cooking Thanksgiving For A Large Group

Create a stress-less Thanksgiving Day this year with Toni’s 12 Days of Thankgiving.

Thanksgiving Planning by Toni Spilsbury The Organized Cook

win customized Thanksgiving party printables by Bella Grey Designs

It’s Day 3 and we’re dishing about…. well, dishes.

Today is the day I decide which dishes are best to use for my “make-ahead” recipes like Toni’s Perfect Cranberry Sauce and Mushroom Shallot Sauce for our steamed green beans, and which serving dishes I will be using for each recipe.

So which food storage containers are best to use?  Personally, I like the glass storage that can go from the freezer/refrigerator straight into the oven like Pyrex Food Storage Containers or Versaglass by Ziploc.

Pyrex Bake, Serve And Store Sets on sale $29.86 regular $34.99

By storing food in these airtight containers, reheating is a cinch.

 

What’s In A Dish

I’ve been caught too many times on Thanksgiving Day rummaging through my cupboards at the last minute looking for a serving dish.

It took me a few years to realize that if I pull my serving dishes out ahead of time and label them so I know which recipes go where, Thanksgiving Dinner is a lot stressful.  It also gives me the opportunity to do a quick wash on the Fall serving bowls and platters that may have collected some dust over the past year.

So, if you can find the space- whether it’s a hardly-used formal dining room table, folding table or anywhere your dishes can be safely out of the way, it’s worth the time to get them ready.

Typically I use a sticky note or piece of paper, and one year I used my label maker.  But this year I’m lucky enough to have had Bella Grey Designs create recipe tent cards for my entire Thanksgiving menu.

If you can spare the space and set up serving dishes in exactly the same order you would like them to go on Thanksgiving Day, that’s even better.

Thanksgiving Grocery Shopping

If you haven’t done the grocery shopping yet for your Thanksgiving Dinner, don’t forget to check out our last minute grocery shopping tips!

Grocery Shopping Tips: “Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving”

By on November 14, 2011 in Videos

Thanksgiving Made Easy

 

It’s less than two weeks until Thanksgiving Day! And if you’re cooking Thanksgiving Dinner For A Large Group, my Thanksgiving guide can help. If you haven’t already downloaded the grocery shopping list for Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving, you can click on the link below.

click here to download grocery shopping list

 

Shop early to take advantage of pre-Thanksgiving Day sales at the grocery stores. But you’ll want to hold off on purchasing fresh produce like lettuce, fresh green beans and spinach until a few days before Thanksgiving.