Andrea Wyn
http://www.budgetbashbook.com
Wow, the year has flown by and in just a few days
Thanksgiving will be here. We keep hearing about the
economy not being as strong as it used to be, so what I
thought I would do is suggest some entertaining ideas and
Thanksgiving table decorations that are low-cost and that
you can add to your holiday party ideas portfolio.
Let’s start with a centerpiece of colorful Thanksgiving
flowers that you can pick up at the market. Use a color
scheme of orange, yellow, red, rust, white and green tones
and pick up sunflowers, dahlias, Gerber daisies and
hydrangeas that are readily available at the market or
flower shop. One of the entertaining ideas I suggest is to
take these Thanksgiving flowers and arrange them in items
you already own like glass vases or water pitchers. Other
holiday party ideas for Thanksgiving include taking natural
elements such as a pumpkin, hallowing out the center and
then using the pumpkin as a vase for your Thanksgiving
table decorations.
An interesting twist on Thanksgiving table decorations is
to take a sunflower or Gerber daisy, cut the majority of
the stem off leaving a couple of inches and then use rocks
or glass stones to anchor the stem down at the bottom of a
low glass vase and fill it with water. Add a floating
candle if you wish and there you have a stylish, low-cost
arrangement using a selection of Thanksgiving flowers.
What I also like about this arrangement is that you can
recycle the elements for other occasions as well.
Another one of the entertaining ideas discussed in Budget
Bash is to use candles. The more the merrier and they
really set a nice mood to any event. Instead of using
glass votives, why not as part of your Thanksgiving table
decorations use mini-pumpkins or green acorn squash, hallow
out the center and then place a votive candle inside. Now
you have a creative twist and a conversation starter on
your dinner table or buffet.
Holiday party ideas for Thanksgiving include complimenting
these vegetable votives with magnolia leaf table place
cards. Simply pick up from a florist a bunch of magnolia
leaves and use a gold metallic pen to write your guest’s
name on the leaf. You can also use maple leaves as well
for these place cards. In fact, why not use a combination
of maple leaves, silk and real Thanksgiving flowers as part
of your Thanksgiving table decorations. You can also save
money on Thanksgiving flowers by just clustering or
grouping different flowers on the table for the evening or
purchasing some rose petals and placing them on the table
for extra color as well.
One of my favorite entertaining ideas for Thanksgiving is a
dairy-free pumpkin pie. Just substitute cornstarch for the
eggs and soy milk for the evaporated milk.
I hope you found these entertaining ideas for Thanksgiving
table decorations helpful. Until next time, remember the
Budget Bash mantra; make it simple, delicious, stylish, fun
& economical to all!
—————————————————-
Andrea Wyn is a special event planner with over 15 years of
industry experience. She has been the Awards Event
Supervisor for the Screen Actors Guild Awards(R) since
2000. Her book, Budget Bash-Simply Fabulous Events on a
Budget, is available at http://www.budgetbashbook.com . She
has an MBA from the University of Chicago & a BA from UCLA.
To learn more about Budget Bash & events go to
Filed under Blog by on Nov 20th, 2009. Comment. 
The Roots of Slow Cookers
Believe it or not the slow cooker has endured history dating back
to ancient days.
Artifacts have been found in every continent on our planet that
clearly proves early man fashioned pots out of whatever he had
available at the time. Pots have been around for a long, long time
dating back to the Bronze Age and even before.
These large pots were made out of cast iron and sometimes stone and
even pottery. They were mainly used to cook food over a long period
of time. They were extremely heavy and as they hung on a large hook,
there was a fire burning below to keep whatever the contents were in
it, warm at all times.
Early chefs would cook root plants in large pots for at least a
night and a day. What they were trying to accomplish was to release
the nutrition and make the bulb of the vegetable tender enough to
eat.
In fact, it was not uncommon to find a pot boiling over a fire all
the time-especially during the colder months.
Big pots have been used throughout history. If you research the
early American times you will find large pots, or cauldrons were
widely used. These pots were not just indigenous to the New World,
evidence proves pots were used for cooking since man discovered
fire!
In the old days, dental hygiene was not quite up to our present-day
standards, so the villagers learned that cooking their foods “low
and slow” worked wonders. Fresh meat can be tough. So tough, in
fact, that the slow cooking process was absolutely essential for
consuming meats!
Raising farm animals and hunting was the primary source of food and
frying the freshly-hunted food made chewing all but impossible. On
the farm, old hens were slow-cooked, making them tender enough to
eat for Sunday dinner.
Unlike today’s slow cookers, the women of the past could not go too
far away from the stove: If left unattended for too long, they would
run the risk of their dinner scorching. The slow cookers of old
could cook just as slow as any crock pot today, but they were used
over an open fire and one would have to pay special close attention.
They were used for more then cooking. Back then you had to heat up
your water and use it for bathing. These large pots were good for
that as well.
This fashion of cooking changed very little as far as slow-cooking
was concerned, until some rather dramatic events took place:
In the 1960′s West Bend created a Bean Pot to cook beans.
Shortly thereafter, the original “Beanery” was created in Chicago
by a company called Naxon Utilities Corp.
In 1970 Rival took over and refined the looks.
In 1971 the Rival Crock-pot slow cooker was introduced.
Women began to leave the home and take their place in Corporate
America to work. To have this wonderful revolutionary “chef” cook
at home during the day while everyone was away at work was a
professional woman’s dream come true!
Slow cooking is still a staple method of cooking, even in today’s
modern world. Modern-day crock pots range from the most modest,
plug ‘n’ cook crock pot to the most sophisticated, computerized-
control models costing well into the hundreds of dollars!
No matter what kind of crock pot you are using, here is a bonus
recipe you should make sure you try:
Turkey Mushroom Casserole
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
3 cups chicken stock
3 cups converted long-grain white rice (uncooked)
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 to 2 cups cubed cooked turkey
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
Add the chicken stock and soup to slow cooker, stir until combined.
I have used chicken and ham if I didn’t have turkey.
You can use water instead of chicken stock, however
you will lose some of that rich flavor.
Or, try this one:
Tuna Casserole
2 cans tuna, drained and flaked
1 can cream of celery soup
4 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups crushed potato chips
Grease the inside of the slow cooker.
Set aside 1/4 cup of the crushed potato chips.
Combine the remaining ingredients in the slow cooker. Top with the
remaining chips. Cover and cook on a low setting for 5 to 8 hours.
Filed under Blog, Recipes by on Oct 21st, 2009. 1 Comment.