Five Things
It's the day before Thanksgiving here in the U.S., and most of you are probably busy getting ready or are traveling (hopefully you're not trekking through the bad weather on the East Coast today!)
But for those of you that aren't, I have a few miscellaneous things to share.
(Miscellaneous posts are some of my favorite to read on other blogs, actually! Hopefully you guys enjoy them too.)
1. NPR and food waste
Several readers wrote me to share that NPR has a food waste series.
I listened to several episodes yesterday, and am so encouraged to hear of the attention that food waste is getting. Yay!!
2. A roundup of yeast rolls
If you're the designated roll-baker for Thanksgiving (like me!), and you haven't decided what you're baking yet, check out this roundup of yeast roll recipes I've shared here over the years.
Of late, I've been making the honey-glazed pan rolls in 9x13-inch pans and bringing those to gatherings.
They're a little sticky on the bottom when they're not RIGHT out of the oven (home is the best place to eat them!), but everyone likes them so much, no one seems to mind a little stickiness.
3. A new cash-back contender
Well, new to me, at least!
I got an email letting me know about BeFrugal, a cash-back provider that promises to rival and beat TopCashBack (my previous favorite) and Ebates (which usually pays less than TopCashBack, but sometimes has stores that TCB doesn't).
You get $10 just for signing up, so I made an account yesterday and will give them a try as I do my Christmas shopping. I'll keep you posted.
4. Win a MyPublisher photobook!
Don't forget to enter my 5-photobook giveaway, as the winners will be announced on Friday morning!
5. What's comin' on Thursday and Friday
Every year on Thanksgiving Day, I post a list of 50 things I'm thankful for. So, that'll be up tomorrow.
And on Friday, there's a leetle handful of Black Friday Deals I have to share with you (none of which involve standing out in the dark and cold. That is totally not my style.)
Have a lovely Wednesday, dear readers.
This post contains referral links.
That NPR series is awesome. Seriously awesome. I am glad today is going to be a slow day at work so I can enjoy all of the articles! Thanks for sharing.
Those rolls look so yummy! Just wanted to let you know that I tried your photo tips and got some pretty adorable photos of my daughter decorating the tree yesterday. Standing in the light with no flash was something I'd forgotten to do lately and it really helped!
Yay!!!! I am so glad.
Looking at your picture of rolls reminded me that I need to bake bread! I'm so busy doing laundry and packing that I almost forgot--thanks!
I get a kick out of your table pictures because you and I have the same china pattern. Such good taste you have! 😉
Haha, you too. Impeccable, even. 😉
I'll do Five Things with you.
1. I'm hoping that the cornbread-only dressing I'm making turns out OK. Most of the recipes I see for cornbread stuffing use white bread as well. And I'm making up the recipe (sauteed onions, celery, still on the fence about carrots, duxelles, lots of turducken fat). Keep your fingers crossed for me.
2. I have more to do today than I anticipated. The day before Thanksgiving is supposed to be quiet, darn it.
3. My friend is driving up today to spend Thanksgiving with me. I'm hoping her trip goes smoothly and without incident.
4. Since I'm going to class tonight, in anticipation of my friend's arrival, I think I'll make cookies to decorate. I checked out the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion from the library so I need to try out lots of cookie recipes, right?
5. So far, CI's Make Ahead Cookbook is three-for-four. Lasagna, meat sauce, and tomato sauce are good. The pizza was a total loser, particularly the crust. It was doughy and bready, far too thick, and I had to choose between fully cooked crust and not-burnt cheese. I officially give up on pizza crust. From now on I shall buy a whole wheat crust and use CI's Make Ahead tomato sauce.
Ohh, good to know about the CI recipes! I looked at the pizza recipe but hesitated at how much wrapping and sealing I'd have to do to make the pizza ahead. Seemed like a lot of headache.
Have a really fun time with your friend. 🙂
And I hope your dressing is good. I'm partial to yeast bread stuffing myself!
I devised a low/no waste wrapping method for frozen goods. I use a produce bag from the supermarket for the first layer, then can reuse the tin foil for the next time.
I like yeast bread stuffing, but my roommate doesn't like cornbread so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to use up the fancy-dancy stone-ground cornmeal I have.
WilliamB - for a make-ahead (up to 22 hours ahead) part-whole-wheat crust that doesn't turn out thick or bready, you might like to check out this post - I haven't made it yet, but I trust this lady's recipes in general:
http://thriftathome.blogspot.ca/2014/11/my-very-favorite-easy-pizza-crust.html
Hope you didn't officially OFFICIALLY give up on pizza crust 🙂 Good luck.
And she got it from Smitten Kitchen, which is always a good start for bread goods. Guess I'm not *officially* done with crust yet.
jenny_o: I backtracked the recipe to Smitten Kitchen (but not all the way to Peter Reinhart) and it was pretty good. It took a bit to get used to working with that very wet, goopy dough but it spread OK, tasted fine, and wasn't too thick. I'd like to figure out how to do a really thin crust at home and also want to see if it's freezable in some form - maybe partly baked? Nonetheless, thanks to the good jenny_o, I'm not done with pizza crust after all. Thank you.
FYI, I used Make Ahead's marinara sauce as pizza sauce. It was much better than the pizza sauce. Next time I may puree it first, just so it spreads more evenly.
@ WilliamB - Thanks for the update; it can be iffy to recommend something because people's tastes and even their definitions of the same terms can be widely different. Nice of you to report back. I hope you find your pizza nirvana before too much longer 🙂
I made your rolls once a few years ago and I'm now I'm the dedicated roll baker every year. I'm also occasionally the "bring something safe I can eat" because some of my in-laws forget about food allergies.
Since we're snowed in I had taken the day off and it's a dedicated bread day. I've got sandwich loaves and rustic bread rising and will probably start the rolls this afternoon. On top of that, we're making homemade pizza tonight. So at least the kitchen will be nice and warm.
Great post, thanks so much for sharing, and Happy Thanksgiving. I am a minimalist and am actually happy with less than more!
I'll try your rolls one of these days, they look delicious but tomorrow I'll try to make parker house rolls, I found the recipe from the book that I bought from Goodwill lately.
P.S- Thanks for your tips on taking good photos! (You really rock!)
Happy Thanksgiving to your family!
Thank you for sharing Be frugal, I was planning to open a virgin mobile account and there is $40 cash back, woo hoo! I used your referral link so you'll reap a reward too. I also shared this on my blog as well because it's a new site for me to explore. Happy Thanksgiving!