11/8/12: Guest Post on Thanksgiving Menu Suggestions

With Thanksgiving coming up I wanted to share a guest post with you on:

5 Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make This Year's Thanksgiving Menu One to Remember by Jennifer Williams

More than all the other holidays Thanksgiving is about the food, which means you may feel pressure to get every recipe on your Thanksgiving menu just right. With all the great Thanksgiving recipes available today, you have plenty of resources to help you craft the perfect meal, from start to finish.

From the appetizers all the way down to the finishing Thanksgiving dessert recipes, choose memorable dishes that will really wow your guests, all without requiring too much time and energy on your part. This Thanksgiving menu can stand on its own, or you can work just one or two of the recipes into the menu you had in mind.


Creamy Vidalia Onion Dip
Start off your Thanksgiving meal the right way with a gooey and decadent Vidalia onion dip. The sweet onions and rich cheese seem to melt together as you bake them. The dip is super simple to prepare and can be served on any type of crackers, bread, or chips.

What You Need:
1 large Vidalia or Walla Walla onion, coarsely chopped
1 pkg. (7 oz.) shredded Italian three cheese blend
1 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
1 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

Make It:
HEAT oven to 325ºF.
MIX first 3 ingredients.
SPREAD onto bottom of 9-inch pie plate; sprinkle with Parmesan.
BAKE 45 min. or until golden brown.

Cranberry-Glazed Ham
Whether you want to try something different from turkey this year or want to add another meat to your Thanksgiving menu, a glazed ham is a delicious choice. This incredibly simple recipe lets you combine a rich, juicy ham with tart cranberry sauce to make a perfect main dish that will have guests coming back for seconds.

What You Need:
1 skinless bone-in ham (shank or butt-end portion) (7 lb.)
1 can (14 oz.) whole berry cranberry sauce
1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing
1 tbsp. zest and 3 Tbsp. juice from 1 orange

Make It:
HEAT oven to 325ºF.
PLACE ham in shallow pan. Score ham; cover with foil. Bake 1-1/2 hours. Meanwhile, microwave remaining ingredients in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 30 to 45 sec. or until cranberry sauce is melted. Reserve 1-3/4 cups cranberry mixture.
REMOVE foil from ham. Bake, uncovered, 1 hour or until ham is heated through (140ºF), brushing with remaining cranberry mixture every 20 min.
TRANSFER ham to cutting board; cover loosely with foil. Let stand 15 min. Slice ham; serve with reserved cranberry mixture.

Sweet Butternut Squash Bake
You have endless options to choose from with Thanksgiving side dish recipes, but a good rule of thumb is to include at least one starchy vegetable and at least one heartier vegetable. For your starchy vegetable, consider ditching the sweet potato casserole for a smooth and rich butternut squash bake.

What You Need:
3 butternut squash (7 lb.)
1 cup water
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) cream cheese, cubed
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper (cayenne)
3 cups miniature marshmallows

Make It:
HEAT oven to 375ºF.
CUT squash in half; remove seeds. Place squash halves, cut-sides down, in 15x10x1-inch pan. Add water. Bake 40 min. or until tender.
SCOOP squash flesh into medium bowl; mash well. Add cream cheese, sugar and pepper; mix well. Spoon into 3-qt. casserole.
HEAT broiler. Top squash mixture with marshmallows; broil, 6 inches from heat, 1 to 2 min. or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Sweet and Tart Carrots
While the oven is packed full of meat, you can still use the stove top to toss together a simple side dish. The balsamic reduction drizzled over these carrots makes them both sweet and tart, and definitely decadent. Plus, this side dish is really simple, requiring only 10 minutes of active prep time.

What You Need:
10 carrots (1-1/4 lb.), peeled, quartered lengthwise
1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing
3 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley

Make It:
COOK carrots in boiling water in large saucepan on medium heat 4 to 6 min. or until crisp-tender. Meanwhile, cook dressing, sugar and butter in small saucepan on low heat 3 to 5 min. or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
DRAIN carrots; return to saucepan. Add sauce; stir. Cook 2 to 3 min. or until carrots are heated through and evenly coated with sauce.
SPRINKLE with parsley.

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake
If you think your guests will let you get away with it, toss out your usual pumpkin pie recipe in favor of this rich and flavorful pumpkin cheesecake. You'll especially love the sharp and sweet gingersnap crumb crust. Plus, you can bake it the day before or in the morning and forget about it until it's time for dessert.

What You Need:
1-1/2 cups finely crushed ginger snaps
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
4 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs

Make It:
HEAT oven to 325°F.
MIX crumbs, nuts and butter; press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 9-inch spring form pan.
BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add pumpkin, spice and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour into crust.
BAKE 1 hour 20 min. to 1 hour 30 min. or until center is almost set. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate cheesecake 4 hours.

Jennifer's Bio:
While not working part-time as a bank teller, Jennifer Williams fills her time kayaking, writing, cooking and spending time with her 3 beautiful daughters. She looks forward to the weekends when all of her hobbies can finally come together.
Disclosure: This post was written by Jennifer Williams.

6/17: Awareness is a Gift - Guest Post

I have my first guest post today. This post is by Lauren Modeen. As you know I have two children, and you may not know that I have a severe allergy to smoke. When I was a young adult going to dance clubs or even restaurants I remember coming out sneezing, coughing, and with watery eyes due to smoke around me.  I have always opposed smoking, it is something that I have had all around me growing up, I just never chose to do. It seems lately marketing is done towards children which is really scary.  Please enjoy Lauren's post.

Awareness is a Gift

By:  Lauren Modeen

Like many, I learned a lot of things in my childhood that served me well as I grew up, even if I didn’t appreciate or realize it fully at the time. And interestingly, oftentimes, the lessons that I internalized best, were those that I was enlightened with in a fun, constructive way, rather than forced.

Here’s an example. In fourth grade, I had to memorize the capitals of all 50 U.S. states. I remember looking at the large pull down map my teacher Mrs. Bishop had in her classroom and being, quite frankly, freaked out. How could I possibly memorize all of that? Dread set in.

Then, a couple of weeks later, when sitting down to breakfast, I noticed my standard floral placemat had been replaced with a placemat of all the 50 U.S. states. Huh, I thought and continued to eat my cereal. After a few breakfasts, I realized I was starting to actually look at the placemat. It wasn’t something I was forced into, just something that I was being made aware of, and it began to stick. Week after week, I began to learn the capitals, and the entire U.S. map began to stick in my head. I was young, impressionable, and absorbent.

When I think about this in the context of more serious challenges kids are facing today, I see a parallel that can be drawn. What if kids were introduced to things that could hurt them later in life, in a constructive, learning manner, so they are empowered to make better decisions?

Take tobacco in Massachusetts for a minute. Big tobacco companies are implementing sneaky marketing tactics to hook kids early on nicotine. Things like Orbs are packaged to look like Tic Tacs, and Ariva to look like Dentyne gum. But what if kids were made aware of the dangers of this early on? Before they are even really faced the fork in the road of to use or not to use? My guess is that they would have a much better chance of taking the healthy, right path. What they might not even realize at the time will most likely stick with them, giving them better instincts down the road.

So, as a parent, what can you do to introduce your child to these dangers early on? How can you make them aware of what they need to avoid later in their teenage years, without pushing, but just educating and empowering? Well, the good news is that there is a Massachusetts online community of parents called “Oppose” that wants to help you along the way.

Oppose is having an event at the Holyoke mall this Saturday, 6/18 and next, 6/25 with the goal of educating parents and kids about sneaky tobacco products. There will be interactive exhibits and giveaways (you can see pics of past events here). Of course, if you don’t live near this mall, or can’t attend either of these events, you can join the online community and still learn a lot about how to talk to your child about nasty tobacco products. You can educate and empower them so they can make great decisions down the road.

How can you easily get involved?

1) Join OPPOSE.ning.com to learn more about what’s going on and get involved.

2) Follow @OpposeTobaccoMA and RT our tweets

3) Fan the Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/OpposeTobaccoMA

4) Blog about your thoughts on this on your personal blog

5) Attend a mall event near you - http://oppose.ning.com/events

6) Forward this post to parents and adults you know who might want to get involved

Thanks for reading and we hope you will take the time to attend an event or join the Oppose community! After all, awareness really is a gift.