Stocking Your Thanksgiving Pantry

You DON'T want to be here on Thanksgiving Day! 

It's only a week until Thanksgiving!  I LOVE Thanksgiving! It's a holiday all about family, but there are no presents to buy and no religious observances to work in.  It's just about food and friends and having a great meal with people I love.

But what I don't love is heading to a grocery store on Thanksgiving Day to get those forgotten ingredients!  The lines are super-long, the parking lots are packed (who ever knew there was a parking space that far from the store's door?) and I always feel guilty for keeping the clerks away from their families on a holiday.

So when I saw the HEB's (the local grocery store here in Austin) guide to stocking your Thanksgiving pantry, I thought it would be a great thing to share. Everyone remembers the main course and the major ingredients for the side dishes, but it's the little things that always seem to be missing from the pantry on the big day.

I tried to find HEB's list on their website, but couldn't find it, so here's their list, plus a few ideas of my own. (There's a link to download the whole list at the end of this post, so no frantic copying and pasting needed!)

HEB's List

• Sugar: brown, white, powdered, and extra fine sugar
• Flour: all-purpose, cake, and seasoned frying flour (that last one is new to me!)
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Nuts
• Dried fruit
• Canned pumpkin
• Spices: cinnamon, allspice, pumpkin pie spice mix, ginger

It's a great start, and it got me thinking, so here's my own list, too. If you stock up on these extras and staples before next week, you'll be able to enjoy your holiday without those panicked trips to your local store.

Lindsay's List

• Natural sweeteners (honey, agave, Stevia)
• Flour and baking mixes: whole wheat, gluten-free, multigrain
• Canned and frozen veggies (a great fill-in if you need more of something!): green beans, sweet potatoes, corn, peas
• Ready-to-use broth (buying the kinds in cartons lets you use a little or a lot and not waste the rest of a can)
• Spices: sage, poultry seasoning, pepper corns (and a grinder), salt
• Canned fruit pie filling
• Canned olives
• Cheese (grated, cheddar, and according to my friends, the stuff in cans is a must-have too!)
• Crackers
• Heat-and-eat or ready-to-bake rolls
• Stuffing mix
• Butter, salted and unsalted
• Instant mashed potatoes (better than running out!)
• Gravy mix (vegetarian, chicken and turkey)
• Canned milk
• Sweetened condensed milk
• Corn starch
• Beverages (whatever you're serving, from tea to cider to soda)
• Cake mix
• Instant pudding
• Cooking spray
• Foil
• Plastic wrap
• Plastic food containers for people to take home leftovers
• Paper towels
• Paper napkins

And then two or three days before Thanksgiving, stock up on some extra:

• Ice
• Celery
• Onions

Can you image?  A Thanksgiving without a last-minute store run?  What a concept! 

Of course, if you really need that chance to escape the chaos for a little bit, there's probably at least a one or two things I left off the list, right?  Frozen pizza, anyone? 

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Download your own printable Thanksgiving grocery shopping checklist here.  And while you're shopping, do try to add at least a few things for your local food bank or homeless shelter.  It's been a tough year for many, and they could use your help in having a reason to be thankful.

Bring it on, Autumn!

 

Once upon a time, for a few years, I didn't like autumn. Well, not entirely. I did love the colors of the leaves.  And the snap in the air.  And I always loved the feeling of taking long walks wrapped in a cozy sweater and boots, with the scent of fireplace smoke in the air.

What I didn't like for those few years was the knowledge that this most perfect of seasons was followed by winter.  And I lived in a 200+ year old farmhouse that was never ever warm enough in winter. I dreaded the days ahead when I would huddle over the floor vents to get even slightly warm enough. When fireplaces were great for keeping one side warm...but your other side would be ice cold.

That fear of what was to come robbed me of any joy I had in autumn. But things changed when I moved back to Florida. Suddenly autumn wasn't about impending winter.  It wasn't even about all those wonderful colors outside or long chilly walks.  It was all about the decorations I put up in the house.

My daughters and I decked our Coral Springs apartment with garlands of silk autumn leaves and bowls filled with mock pumpkins and gourds. We lit Yankee Candles in scents like cinnamon spice and Autumn leaves. And we made hearty soups and spicy pumpkin bread.  Despite the 70 degrees outside, we created autumn inside. Sure, there would be cool or even cold days in winter.  But we couldn't wait.

Now we're in Texas, where summer's awful heat reaches deep into fall. But unlike in Florida, there are a few days, like today, when a real feel of autumn is in the air.  Last night, we went for a wonderful walk when the air was around 50 degrees and heading down. And we smelled wood smoke in the air, from a nearby fireplace.  Yes, it will sadly go back up to the 90's later this week :-(  -- but for a few days, we had real autumn.

And inside, we have continued our practice from our Florida days.  The fireplace is decked out with garland and autumn flowers and just a bit of Halloween. The front porch has it's own taste of autumn, too, with our decorated chair and a step basket overflowing with autumn colors.

In the kitchen we draped the light with more leaves, and scattered some around on shelves.  With no threat of a too-cold house for months ahead, we can enjoy our taste of autumn to its fullest.

So as much as I would love to be seeing the beauty of a full Pennsylvania autumn, I think I'll just be happy with what I have today.  So bring it on, autumn. Leave those hot temps far behind...we're decorated and ready for everything you have to offer here in Texas.

Magic in the wind

It's only been autumn for two days but already the air is different. No, not New England or Colorado different. It's still hot here in Texas, and aside from the sprinkling of dry leaves on my patio, there's no sign of autumn colors.

But the trees are blowing instead of standing motionless in the searing summer heat. And the air that's tossing my hair into tangles is cooler. The light is different too...more intense and richer than the blinding summer light.

It makes me dream of cool nights, soft quilts, warm sweaters, bowls of hot soup, and crackling fires on long evenings shared with friends and stories and laughter.

Odds are the heat will stick around awhile longer here. And the leaves might not ever turn orange or red. But if the Farmer's Almanac is right, the season of warm sweaters and hot soup isn't far away.
I'll wait. It is all coming...it's in the magic in the air.

Happy Autumn!

The mysteries of high school in Texas

I've lived in a lot of places.  From Florida where I grew up, to years spent in the Rockies, Pennsylvania and even a brief stint in New England, I've experienced a lot of regional "quirks".  But with a daughter now in high school in Texas, the mysteries have deepened.

We thought that the weirdest thing so far was the fact that in Austin even people who don't have kids in the local high school buy season passes to the high school football games. And they really go!

But the "strangeness factor" jumped several degrees yesterday when we accidentally encountered something called "Mums" at the local Michael's. No, these are not the flowers, although a silk version of them is involved.

Texas mums are enormous creations made from silk flowers, too many yards of ribbon to count, stuffed bears, plastic cupcake decorations, Mardis Gras beads, bells, battery-powered Christmas lights and enough hot glue to securely put Humpty Dumpty back together again.  And that's just a "basic mum."

And best all, when these things are all assembled, girls wear them to school! And in some schools, to the Homecoming game as well. They're worn pinned to shirts or jackets (or in some cases to bra straps to keep them from tearing holes in clothes because of the weight of it all), or tied around necks.

Boys get off a bit easier. They wear a smaller version of the traditional mum, attached to a garter and worn on the arm (ideally over a letter jacket, I'm told.  This is, after all, Texas!)

And as if all this silliness wasn't enough, there's the matter of the cost of this autumn high school tradition. This enormous hot-glued bundle of fake flowers and ribbon and do-dads can easily cost hundreds of dollars.  Sometimes over a thousand.

A very basic mum base at Michael's starts at $30.  And from there, girls (or moms or in some cases, boyfriends) are expected to buy and add all the extras from stuffed pets to blinking lights. There are pages and pages online explaining how to make and customize a mum.  And even more sites selling them, all for upwards of $200.

Needless to say, we're going to make our own.  I'm handy with a glue gun.  I found a step-by-step Homecoming mum video.  We stocked up on ribbon using this week's Michael's coupons.  The Mardis Gras beads and tiny stuffed bear are coming from the dollar store.  Not sure about bells or lights.  But we're going to try and keep the cost below $20.

And once it's all done, we'll take a picture or two of our creation as my daughter heads out the door. And I promise not to giggle too much...at least while she can hear me.

Mums, indeed.  Giggle, giggle!

Cool breeze, creativity blooming

I walked outside this morning to find....

A cool breeze!  A real, honest-to-goodness, cool breeze!  Really cool!  Like maybe 20-25 degrees cooler than a week or so ago!  For the first time in months!

And with the cool weather comes....


Long walks - around my neighborhood, in the park, at the beach

Big pots of creamy homemade soup for supper

Home-baked bread

Lazy afternoons outside with a good book and a cup of tea

Feeling good when I put on a soft hoodie

...and creativity!  Time to pull out the scrapbooks and art supplies and paints!

I feel it! I feel it! It's autumn!

Okay, so the signs are little more subtle here in Florida. There are no flashy leaves, and if you actually put a real pumpkin on your doorstep, it would be a pile of mush within 24 hours. But this morning, as I stepped out of my door, it was unmistakably autumn!

First, there was the breeze. It was a not a watery, hot blast -- it was cool and gentle. The sweetness of it, after our very hot summer, was delicious!

And then there was the light. I'm not sure if it was the angle or a quality of the light itself, but it was autumn light. My daughter said it felt like the first day of school in Pennsylvania.

I used to have a love/hate relationship with autumn. I loved the cool weather and the bright colors and the masses of apples and pumpkins and winter vegetables at the farmer's market. I love the feel of putting on a soft hoodie or a new sweater and feeling cozy. I loved building the first fire in the fireplace after a long summer of it sitting cold and empty. I loved having a supper of hot soup and homemade bread with just-made apple butter feel like just-the-right-thing.

But I hated the fact that the arrival of autumn meant that winter was close on its heels. I'm a Florida girl, and I never quite got used to the freezing winters up north and in the Rockies. I missed being comfortable outside without layers and layers of clothes and boots and gloves and hats. I missed walking without worrying about slipping on ice. And because of that anticipation of all the winter-stuff to come, I probably missed out on some of joy of autumn.

That got me thinking...

How many times in our lives do we miss out on the good stuff now, because we are too focused on what comes next? Whether it's something don't want, like winter, or something we do, like a vacation or a wedding, we miss so much of what is happening AT THIS MOMENT by living in dread or anticipation of the future.

How much of the joy of autumn, my favourite season, did I miss by looking ahead to winter?

What makes you want to play?

A couple of months ago, we adopted a puppy.  She's a Rhodesian Ridgeback/Boxer mix, and she loves to play. For Maya, anything can be a toy...a stray sock, a milk bottle lid, a carelessly dropped pencil.  We spend a lot of time getting things away from her, and substituting the right chew toys.

But there are a couple of toys that always spark that "Let's play!" attitude in this 50 pound, 8 month old pup, and one of her favorites is a set of interlocked rubber rings. All she has to do is see that toy in our hands, and it's instant playtime.

So that started me thinking...what makes it instant playtime for me?  What transcends the mood of the moment, and just shifts gears for me?  What does that for you?

For me, it's:

• Scrapbook stores - spot one, and I am instantly ready to play with paper and pictures!
• Taking a wrong turn onto an interesting street -- I go into explorer mode, and as my kids can attest, the result is usually a fun discovery or two.
• Windy days, especially cool windy days.  Especially cool windy days in autumn. I want to get outside and play as soon as I feel it! 

So what about you?  What triggers your playful spirit?  

Happy Pink Saturday!

Missing autumn

Right now in Central Pennsylvania, it's 68 degrees. The leaves will be starting to turn. Fireplaces will be lit tonight. Hot soup will be a meal of choice, as people come in from the suddenly crisp air. Autumn has arrived.

Today in Florida, it's 90 degrees. I will probably go swimming after work. A big chilled salad is the best idea for supper. Then maybe a late night walk on the beach.

I love Florida. It's home, it's where I grew up. But I also spent years living in other places. Places with autumn.

And today, I want autumn.

I want to experience that amazing feeling of coziness when you slip your arms into a soft sweatshirt jacket. I want to feel good when I pull warm socks from the dryer and put them on my feet. I want to go for a long walk on the Conewago Trail, in Bullfrog Valley Park or along a trail in Little Cottonwood Canyon and see the colors, my hand tucked snugly into my jacket pocket (or the hand of a special someone.)

I want to curl up in the big armchair in front of the fireplace, and lose myself in a good book. I want to sip hot apple cider, stirred with a cinnamon stick and munch on crisp Ginger Snaps.

It's time to visit autumn.