The November 2002 Issue of Chewin' the News from 30 Day Gourmet Freezer Cooking . . .

Okay – they put up the Christmas decorations in our town today so it must be time to write the November newsletter eh? And tonight my 17 year old said “Hey mom, we’re going to put the Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving aren’t we? Our house looks so cool when it’s decorated for Christmas.” Now for you moms who will be up late tonight with colicky babies or feverish toddlers or sassy pre-adolescents I’m telling ya – hang on. It gets better! And that one comment just kind of gave me an excitement for the whole season this year.

Please don’t let this holiday season be something that you dread because of all the extra work involved. Spend a little time now to plan for the crazy days and do some freezing ahead. It will help you out SO much and you will also get rave reviews from friends and family who will eat those delicious freezer foods that you will whip up.

Last Sunday I made dinner for 30 at a staff luncheon after church. What really struck me was how many people are just thrilled to be eating a “home cooked” meal. We had Parsley Parmesan Chicken, Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes, Farm Style Green Beans, rolls, Orange Fruit Freeze, Cherry Delight (from Tammy’s new Desserts ebook), Pumpkin Cheesecake, Apple Crisp, and Banana Cream Pie. Am I making you hungry? It was pretty yummy. All 30 Day Gourmet recipes I might add.

Speaking of desserts, we have another great ebook ready for you - just in time for the holidays. Tammy, our message board moderator, has written one incredible ebook here. “Freezer Desserts to Die For!” is truly the only desserts book you will ever need. Everything is easy and delicious and best of all – every recipe can be frozen!

Our new software is selling very well and we are receiving some excellent feedback from all of you! A big thanks to Gaylen and Shelley Miller from Advantage Cooking for creating this 30 Day Gourmet Edition of their quantity cooking software. You can still download a free trial version of the software if you’d like to take a look before you purchase.

Holiday Freezer Cooking ebook – only $6.95
If you don’t have a copy of our Holiday Freezer Cooking ebook – what are you waiting for? These recipes are fantastic and you can make all of them tonight and freeze them! Can you feel the stress draining out of your body? (They also work fine if you make them the night before or next Thursday morning☺) 26 recipes. Easy to follow instructions. Click here for more info or to download a sampler.

NEW HOLIDAY RECIPES

Pumpkin Cake Roll – Okay I’ll admit it. I always looked at the pictures of these every year in the women’s magazines and probably even cut a few recipes out but I was never brave enough to try to make one. Well – hey, it was pretty easy. Even rolling it up and slicing it! The cream cheese filling is oh so yummy and the whole thing freezes great.

Click here to view/print the Pumpkin Roll recipe.
Click here to see a photo of my Pumpkin Roll – first try! (I’m pretty proud of it.)

Frozen Cranberry Salad
I made this for a luncheon at our church (have you figured out that I test most of my recipes on our church staff?) and a few of the secretaries were fighting over this one. Really good!

Turkey Almond Casserole
When I made this recipe, I had one of those déjà vu moments. It reminded me SO much of the very first casserole that I learned how to make in my first microwave – purchased in 1984. I love the sauce (sour cream, mayo, celery and soup) and the almonds mixed in are just delicious. Great use for that leftover turkey!

Scalloped Corn
One of our cooks e-mailed me the other day asking if she could freeze this holiday tradition so I gave it a try. Tasted great! Most of you already have a recipe for this – unless you’re like me and you DON’T!

Pastrami Dip in a Loaf
I love serving the spinach dip in a bread bowl for an appetizer but didn’t really know what else I could put in that boat. Here’s a great recipe. It tastes really good and you can freeze it ahead of time. I froze the dip separately to thaw and put into the bread bowl just before serving but I also tried putting it into the bread bowl and freezing the whole thing. Both ways worked just fine!

Turkey Tip from Tara’s Mom
Not sure how to really know if your turkey is done? Click here for the best turkey tip I’ve seen this year.

Great Holiday Recipes Free on our Website
If you’re a 30 Day Gourmet, there’s no good reason not to have awesome food around your house this holiday season. I sent Tammy on a web search for all of the recipes on our site that would be especially great for the holidays. Look what she found:

Breads & Breakfast

Appetizers

Snacks & Desserts

CRAZY COOK’S STORY APRON WINNERS – chosen by Nanci from entries posted on the message boards or sent by e-mail to nanci@30daygourmet.com

Our Cook of the Month contest is changing to the “Do a Good Cooking Deed” contest. Tell me how you use 30 Day Gourmet cooking to help others and if your story is chosen I’ll send you $25. Again, you can submit your story by e-mail or on the message boards. It’s okay to nominate someone else, too.

Our November “My Cooking Story Contest” is Laurie E. from Kessler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. Way to go, Laurie!

RECIPE OF THE MONTH $25 WINNER – chosen by Tammy, our message board moderator.

Submit your recipe for the Recipe of the Month contest!
You too can submit a recipe for this contest! Just post it on our Cook’s Corner message boards under the appropriate recipe category. All submitted recipes are considered, as long as your profile contains your email address so we can reach you. The winner receives a check for $25.

November Recipe of the Month – Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Our Recipe of the Month winner is Jennifer, for her Pumpkin Spice Muffins recipe. This recipe is quick, easy and perfect for this time of year. Consider it a simple version of Pumpkin Bars… a spice cake mix, a can of pumpkin and some cream cheese frosting. That’s all there is to it!

My family really liked these. The muffins are very moist. The spices and pumpkin flavor were nicely balanced. And the cream cheese frosting just enhanced it. My kids love frosting, of course. They easily ate these muffins without any frosting, and enjoyed them. Which surprised me! I figured once they had them with frosting, they wouldn’t eat them without. But they did, and still talked about how tasty they were!

When my muffins were fresh out of the oven, they stuck to the paper liners at the bottom. To avoid that, use foil liners, or spray your pan with cooking spray instead of using liners. They didn’t seem to stick as much when they weren’t as fresh either. They didn’t rise a lot, so fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. You can freeze them with or without the frosting. Freeze the frosting separate or keep it on hand.

I haven’t caught up with Jennifer by email yet, so we’ll meet her next month. To have your favorite recipe considered for the Recipe of the Month Contest, post it under the appropriate category on the message boards. Good luck!

You can get in on the winning too! Just post your favorite freezer recipe on the message boards under the appropriate category. Be sure to include freezer directions. Happy cooking! And freezing!!

Q & A from Nanci

Q

I was reading on some cooking sites and someone asked about cooling down the food. She said something about food poison and was wondering do you have a special thing you’re supposed to do. I guess I was thinking you just put the food in a container and stick it in the freezer? Help - I have not had a cooking day and really don't want to make my family sick, cause I don't know what I’m doing.

A

Well - my experience has been that some people can make you scared to do anything in your own kitchen. Yes, there can be some health concerns with cooling foods. The primary problem is in cooling foods too slowly or in trying to cool large batches of foods. The rule is that foods must cool to 70 degrees within 2 hours and 41 degrees within another 4 hours. This is easy to do. It may mean breaking the foods down into smaller portions to cool rather than leaving a big pot of spaghetti sitting on the counter to cool all afternoon:) Most of the time with freezer cooking, we do that anyway. I make my recipes one at a time and then portion them off into family serving sizes and get them into the freezer.

Hope that helps! You can do a web search on cooling foods but this is the main rule that you'll find. Lots of the concern is for restaurants who make huge quantities of foods early in the day (or week) and leave them sitting around.

Want to raise eyebrows on Thanksgiving Day? Click here to find out how.
(This one came from Tara’s mom too!)

We had five new consultants join us in the last month. Click here to check out the whole list with contact info on the website. Please contact them if you’d like a 30 Day Gourmet speaker for your local group of frustrated cooks!

Welcome to:

Tammy’s Gift Jar Cookies
Tired of the same old “apple-theme” gifts for your kids’ teachers? Give them a break, and yourself too, by giving them a gift in a jar from your kitchen. At this extra-busy time of year, they appreciate the homemade touch. And since it’s a mix, they can enjoy it freshly made when it suits them best. I’ve given the Holiday Jar cookies as gifts the last 2 years for my kids’ teachers, and most of the teachers have asked for the recipe. That’s a pretty good endorsement! I usually make a jar for us too, because the kids enjoy eating the same cookies they gave their teacher, knowing they’re so delicious. Layering the ingredients in the jar is easy enough that the kids’ can help you with it. Then they’re that much prouder of the gift they give their teacher!

Click here to see a photo of Tammy’s teacher gifts. Don’t you wish yours were all done and ready? Me too.
Click here to view/print Tammy’s Gift Jar Cookies recipe.

The cocoa mix is a new recipe I’m going to use for gifts this year, and I predict it will be well received too! Mugs, jars or canisters to put the cocoa mix in don’t have to cost a fortune… check the dollar stores to see if they have anything that would work. If you know this is something you’re going to do, watch for clearance items you can pick up throughout the year so you have all the containers you need by the time December rolls around. The kids can help mix this one up too. Beside teachers, it would make a great gift for the bus driver, the mailman, neighbors or anyone you want to know is special and appreciated during the holidays.

Click here to see a photo of Tammy’s Hot Cocoa Mix gift. So easy but people always love to receive something homemade.

And what to do with those turkey leftovers? To use up leftover turkey, just go to our website at www.30daygourmet.com and click on the “Recipes” tab. Search under "Type...Poultry" for a bunch! like turkey and noodles, turkey divan, mom's chicken noodle casserole, easy turkey and stuffing casserole, and the list goes on. You might also check out the November 2001 newsletter. It has a bunch of them.

Chewin'

the News

NEW HOLIDAY RECIPES

Breads & Breakfast

Appetizers

Snacks & Desserts

MESSAGE BOARD UPDATES FROM TAMMY

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