Friday, December 9, 2011

Holiday Hint #6

We have begun our Christmas Break!  Hooray!  Now the holiday happenings begin!

Today's hint is to finalize your holiday gathering/party/family traditions/food to share with others menu.  I plan to do that right now.  I had rough draft of what I was going to cook for all of those occasions, and I have been picking up a few ingredients as they have been on sale, but I am going to make the final plan today.  Then I will make the master grocery list and break it down by which store I will purchase each item from.  I will be shopping at Kroger and Sam's.  I will put the ingredients in categories based on when I will need to buy them.

  • non-perishables--things that I can buy today and will last all the way to Christmas Day
  • perishables I need each week--for instance I have a party to attend tomorrow, but I will also be needing fresh food for Christmas Day.  I will be making 3 or maybe 4 trips to Kroger between now and December 25th.  I am going to plan my lists for each trip, assigning the necessary perishable items for each trip--based on what I am cooking for. 
Also today I am going to look at my calendar and plan at least three baking days.  I learned long ago that conducting a marathon session in the kitchen, trying to complete all of my holiday baking in one day, is no fun!  After a couple of hours, we are no longer making pleasant memories!  So I break the cooking into three or even four sessions.  For instance, making and decorating sugar cookies with the children will be all that we cook on that day!

Here is a tentative look at my holiday cooking plans:
  • sugar cookies with the children
  • special cookies/baked goods that we only make in December--some of these we will eat, and some we will package to share with others
  • oysters crackers and Reindeer food--we ALWAYS make these to package to share, and we also save some for us to nibble on.
  • my extended family's party (I am taking pound cake, crunchy romaine salad, and something else--I haven't decided yet)
  • Jimmy's extended family's party (I am taking ham and I have to plan the rest today!)
  • Christmas Eve supper--soup 
  • Christmas Day--mocha punch, Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls, breakfast casserole, grilled steak, steamed shrimp, hash brown potato casserole, salad
I am going to get started on all of these lists right now!  How is your holiday cooking coming along?

2 comments:

  1. I have a recipe for cinnamon rolls, but have been wanting to try PW's. Hers looks as good/better than mine. I would keep my icing though.

    We are baking this weekend for cookies to serve to church members while they make fruit baskets for shut-ins. Other than that-we will just do gingerbread men right before Christmas.

    Lots to do there lady!!

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  2. enlighten me on reindeer food! How do you make it and what do you do with it? thank you!!

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