December 2007

H

ave a “Merry” Christmas!! How many times have you said those very words while being totally overwhelmed by all the tasks yet to be accomplished? Christmas time is often the most stressful time of the year. With lots of additional tasks such as selecting and purchasing gifts for family and friends, parties at home, school, and church, special programs, and cards and Christmas letters, and the list goes on and on. We would like to encourage you to take a minute to decompress and plan to have a stress-free holiday season. We would like to offer several suggestions to make this a very “Merry” Christmas, starting with stress-free menu suggestions. A little planning and some easy-to- fix recipes and some quick decorating ideas can make your holidays bright.

Here are some suggestions for stress free cooking for the holidays:

• Have an idea of the types of foods you would like to eat or serve during the holidays.

   

• Stay within budget. You should have some idea of how much money you are willing to spend on food items for the holiday.

   

• Come up with a menu and recipes. There are so many web sites available that will help you plan every aspect of your holiday meal. Here’s are couple I use:

All Recipes is a wonderful site. I use it for getting a new version of a recipe. Recipe servings can be adjusted to serve any amount of people. I find it to be quite helpful.

I use Food Network after watching a food show that has a recipe I want to fix.
 

• Write down all the ingredients needed for the food items. Use that list for grocery shopping. Only purchase the items needed.
   

• When preparing food from scratch, make sure that your pantry is stocked with the necessary food items. Fresh items can be picked up closer to the event
   

• There are many items that are ready made. Determine what your needs are and keep those items on hand.

Peace and blessings,

Chap