I am gearing up! I love the holiday season. It is always the most exciting fun time of the year. Also the most stressful sometimes! This year has the added bonus of being smack dab in the middle of a dangerous pandemic making a party difficult at best.
Some folks are going at the dinner party thing like no big deal everything is normal. They don't worry about masks anywhere they go or catching anything. I can't take those chances. I probably have every possible issue making things a bad deal if I get it. Over 60 y.o, over weight, high blood pressure, asthma / copd, really nasty everything you can think of allergy from meats to preservatives to cleaning products! There was a time when I was much younger I never caught anything, that just doesn't happen any longer for me.
So this year the folks I usually share a meal with I am just going to drop off a nice dessert or three as usual and go back home. One of the parties I normally help plan and set up I will still do that just make sure and do it with no folks around. I have yet to find out just how many folks will show up for that one.
The picture up above is my brains on paper. It isn't that I am THAT extremely organized it's just I have no memory to speak of and this helps me feel less stressed when I am planning many different desserts for several different functions including my own. I have something to plan out a menu with different columns to make sure I hit all the areas with some good things.Labeled meat, veggies, breads, drinks, desserts. I have a calendar for each month marking the day of any events. There is a To Do / To Buy list. A list of recipes with a DONE check mark place next to it. This also helps me gather up the recipes for wherever I need to take something so I don't miss anything. There is a sheet with the days marked for the week before so I can schedule what I can get done earlier instead of all in one day. It might be chopping things like nuts, crushing graham crackers for a crust, assembling the dry ingredients of a recipe and labeling so I know which recipe it goes for so it is quicker and less messy to put together. Anything I can do in advance to make things less hectic and now days less tiring.
Everyone is warned that I am experimenting with new recipes so that all get to sample whatever it is this year. So far I have had good luck with everything disappearing and usually folks coming back for more. I don't cook a little of anything so I guess that is doing pretty good when a pretty plate is empty. LOL
Some of this is kind of fun. I get to play like a catering person! I don't know how these specialty cake people and food folks do it. Just getting stuff from my place to theirs in one piece as the way it's intended to look less than 20 miles away is a challenge! Just keeping pies cold to keep it's shape takes some doing. Cakes I have to allow for the sitting in the warm kitchen time until everyone dives in so the frosting doesn't start dripping off the cake.
I saw a really pretty Ande's Mint Cake I would love to bake. I have a good chocolate cake recipe that would work. It's just 2 very strong flavors together I'm not sure how well it would be received. Maybe I can figure out how to make a single divided layer or a smaller 6"? size instead of the normal 3 layer 8 " - 9" size.
Isn't it beautiful ?!
It might taste like a York Peppermint Paddy!
This year I want to learn how to make a
pumpkin roll. I have a good recipe for it and the right size pan I just
need to see if I can do it. There is always the other favorites I make
each year. I always get requests for the honey pecan pie and usually
make about 4 at once. Talk about a lot of pre - planning Whew ! That's a
work out.
As I am planning on which recipes I also make a list of all the different ingredients and add up how many cups I need or how many eggs I will be using. It gets pretty interesting when you see how many cups of Karo syrup, how many dozens of eggs, how many cups / ozs/ pounds of nuts, chocolate chips.
I love baking desserts usually. I wish I could get into roll out cookies. They are cute but they take so much time to cut out and decorate! It's just a production when your making more than a couple of things for your own families get together's. I am sure your family has it's own holiday production going on. You probably have several people helping in the kitchen also. I am a one woman show. I have never had the luxury of help in the kitchen. The men in my family are lucky to know how to make themselves a sandwich or to get their own glass of tea! It's down right pitiful. My daughter and I tried working together in a tiny kitchen in Arkansas and believe me .... we are 2 totally different kinds of cooks in the kitchen! I tried hard but she was at the stage of being in a hurry and nothing was ever cooked all the way. Mixing something up with her was not fun either. Little miss efficient tossed everything in the sink after one use when you know you can use it again to measure something. I finally had to just say lets find something else for you to do. LOL She is married with a husband that cooks now so I am sure it's different and better although sometimes her boys tell on her and I hear things are still the same in some areas. It's for sure a good laugh.
As I am planning on which recipes I also make a list of all the different ingredients and add up how many cups I need or how many eggs I will be using. It gets pretty interesting when you see how many cups of Karo syrup, how many dozens of eggs, how many cups / ozs/ pounds of nuts, chocolate chips.
I love baking desserts usually. I wish I could get into roll out cookies. They are cute but they take so much time to cut out and decorate! It's just a production when your making more than a couple of things for your own families get together's. I am sure your family has it's own holiday production going on. You probably have several people helping in the kitchen also. I am a one woman show. I have never had the luxury of help in the kitchen. The men in my family are lucky to know how to make themselves a sandwich or to get their own glass of tea! It's down right pitiful. My daughter and I tried working together in a tiny kitchen in Arkansas and believe me .... we are 2 totally different kinds of cooks in the kitchen! I tried hard but she was at the stage of being in a hurry and nothing was ever cooked all the way. Mixing something up with her was not fun either. Little miss efficient tossed everything in the sink after one use when you know you can use it again to measure something. I finally had to just say lets find something else for you to do. LOL She is married with a husband that cooks now so I am sure it's different and better although sometimes her boys tell on her and I hear things are still the same in some areas. It's for sure a good laugh.
Love
Ranchmama
(P.S. and now you know why I love a well stocked and organized pantry for baking!)
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