iCOOK
It’s Not Your Normal Holiday by Britt Allgood
2020
Enough said! It has been a crazy year and it may get even harder. Everybody is feeling the stress. The desire to get back to a normal life, and to see family and friends. Well, for everybody’s health and wellbeing, we need to celebrate - but not with a big group of family and friends
The main course is the hardest of all. No matter how you try, turkey for two is going to generate some left overs. We had an eleven and a half pound turkey and have enough meat left for at least three more meals. I like to get creative with the extra and make soup, pot pies, tetrazzini or enchiladas. Oh, and there is always a Kentucky hot brown.
Just days ago, my wife and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving without any guests. I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us - talk about a challenge and a bit of a balancing act. You want some of your favorite holiday dishes like Turkey, Stuffing, the (I know some of you will groan at this one) green bean casserole, homemade rolls, and the ever tempting pumpkin pie. How do you do this without eating leftovers until Christmas? Scale it down or share it.
Share It
Scale It Down
Scaling down recipes isn’t hard. Yes, this is where your basic math skills come back to haunt you as fractions or percentages. I can see some of you closing the magazine right now - but it isn’t that bad people! Two important things to remember are how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon. The answer is three. The other is how do you get half an egg? First you beat it, then you split what’s left. When scaling down a recipe, remember to divide the number you are cooking for by the recommended serving size and you will know how far to scale down the recipe - unless you want to eat green bean casserole every day for a week. If you are cooking for three and the recommended serving size is four, go ahead and make the entire dish and give someone a big helping. But if you are cooking for three and the recommended serving size is eight, the easiest thing to do is cut recipe in half. Better a little extra food than not enough.
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DECEMBER 2020 - JANUARY 2021
My neighbors and I have been kicking around the idea of a socially distant pot luck for Christmas. The idea is that you split up the work, divide up your dish and leave it on your neighbor’s porch at a designated time. One family does the turkey, one stuffing, one vegetables - well you get the idea. It works and you get a bit more variety. Just make sure that you follow some simple food safety protocols like wearing gloves and a mask during preparation and for delivery. I’ve always baked around the holidays as many of my long time readers know. This year won’t be any different, but I will be taking all the necessary precautions before leaving little boxes of holiday cheer for my friends and neighbors. For this issue of PAFM I’m going to share a few recipes with you already scaled down. Most will serve four depending on how big you like your slice of pie. Oh, the cookie recipes shouldn’t be scaled down. Share the extras with those you love. Happy holidays from our iCook family. Live, Laugh, Love, and Eat well to you all.
Purchase Area Family Magazine
Read online! issuu.com/purchasefamilymag
