Be Carton Smart this Holiday

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carton Smart for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

What if everyone made just one small smart decision every day?  How much of a difference do you think that would make?  Sure, one person's actions may not seem like much, but when everyone joins in, the impact can  be huge.

Tetra Pak® carton packages, designed for maximum efficiency and environmental friendliness, are one small way to live smarter and make that difference.  The cartons are made of 70% paper, a renewable resource, from selectively harvested, re-grown trees that are FSC-certified (Forest Stewardship Council) and use 1/3 of the packaging compared to cans.  Cartons are space saving, easy to store and open, and the unique packaging process preserves the flavor and nutrients of food without the use of preservatives.  So, not only will you help the environment by putting less waste into landfills, when you Become Carton Smart you'll also be able to feed your family better quality food.

I received Tetra Pak® carton packages of  Pacific Foods Organic Jellied Cranberry Sauce, Pacific Foods Organic Pumpkin Puree, and Pacific Foods Organic Chicken Simply Stock - the perfect products for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday!

Cranberry sauce goes with turkey, the stock can be used to make the dressing, and I think I'll use the Pumpkin Puree to make a batch of these Pumpkin Oat Muffins.  What's great about these cartons is that they're reclosable, so I can use the 1 cup of pumpkin I need for the muffins and easily save the rest in the carton for later.  How convenient is that?



I also like that the cartons fit together nicely - meaning they're great for stocking the pantry.  I am definitely going to have to look for other products I can get in these cartons.

Be sure to Follow #CartonSmart on Pinterest to see lots of great small, smart choices that can add up to make a big difference, and if you have some ideas of your own, be sure to Tweet @CartonSmart to share them.

How will you be #CartonSmart this holiday?  Will you buy at least one of your ingredients in a carton?  Recycle all of the cans and jars you use?  Use real dishes so that you aren't throwing away a bunch of paper plates and plasticware?  I'd love to hear your plans.

Our Last Thanksgiving Here

It will be nice to have Thanksgiving at home this year.  It will be the last year in this house - not that we're quite ready to call ottawa movers  to pack us up and move us out. Yet.  But we certainly better get this house sold and get moved out before this time next year.  Way before!  Like any day now. 

We'll have our daughter, our son, and our grandson here.  My brother and his daughter will be here too, so it will be a nice little family gathering.  Cory is already appreciating the fact that he'll be able to spend Thanksgiving with his own family this year.  Last year we went to Kansas City to spend the holiday and weekend with Jeffrey's dad and his wife, and it was really nice.  Barb always takes really good care of us!  The problem was that Cory couldn't come with us because he had rehearsal to get back for. He did get to spend Thanksgiving with a friend's family, but it just wasn't the same. 

Cory has to be back for rehearsal this year, too, but since we live so close to campus, it won't be a problem.  It won't be quite as convenient next year once we've moved, but at least we'll be close enough that the kids can get down for Thanksgiving, and Cory will still be able to get back for rehearsal when he needs to.  We'll be even closer to my brother and niece.  So, even though we're moving and this will be our last Thanksgiving here, we'll all still be able to get together in the future and make new memories in a new place.  That's definitely something to be thankful for!

Where's the Heat?

So, Thanksgiving is this week.  I'm supposed to be thankful, right?  And I am, really I am - for so many things.
 

Source: foodnetwork.com
via Anna on Pinteres

I'm also busy, because I've got pies to make, rolls to bake, a turkey to cook, and all the other things that go along with having Thanksgiving dinner.  I started today by baking a Bourbon Pecan pie that smells wonderful. 

But now I'm a bit frustrated, because, when the pie came out of the oven, I turned it off for a bit, until I got ready to bake a pizza for dinner.  And when I turned the oven back on, it seemed to be taking forever to heat up.  I waited and waited and waited - and finally went ahead and put the pizza in anyway, but it just wouldn't cook properly.  I finally just finished it up in my roaster oven.  Thankfully I had that down and ready to use, because I already planned to cook the turkey in it tomorrow - while I was baking the pies and rolls in the oven.

So now, I'm hoping it was just some random glitch and the oven decides to work tomorrow.  If not, well, I guess everything will have to be cooked in the roaster.  I started by baking a pumpkin pie tonight.  It looks and smells great, so I know it's possible to bake everything in the roaster oven - it will just take a lot longer than I'd like.

This happened about 3 years ago, and we got it fixed, but it's not something I really wanted to have to deal with again - and the timing is really bad.  Still, I can be very, very thankful that I do have the roaster oven, right?  As well as plenty of food that needs to be cooked.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's nice to have a day set aside each year to remind us to be thankful, but I'm thinking that every day should be Thanksgiving.

All That Food Means...

I just want to say that I'm really thankful to my family for cleaning up after Thanksgiving dinner - NOT. After working all day Wednesday cooking and then making dressing, peeling potatoes, cooking sweet potatoes, and whatever else still needed done Thursday so we could eat, the LAST thing I felt like doing after eating was clean up the kitchen. I did pretty good keeping things washed up as I cooked, and I got all the leftovers put into the fridge, but the dishes were just too much. I guess they were just too much for everyone else, too, because this is what my kitchen looked like this morning:

I did eventually get around to washing them all, and Cory dried and put them away - just in time for turkey sandwiches for lunch! We used paper plates for that.

Oh, and just saying - the food was so good! Yep, I cooked it all (Beth mashed the potatoes) and I can say that. I love turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, rolls, the whole thing. (and I don't have any pictures of the actual food - just those dirty dishes)

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• Cooking for Thanksgiving (alwaysbcmom.com)

So Much to Do, and it Takes so Much Time

All right, I finally got to sit down - but I made a German Chocolate pie, Oatmeal Rolls, a pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce - and cooked a turkey today. I made African Burritos for dinner, too, then had to clean up the kitchen and get the turkey all cut up and the broth put in a pan so I can use it tomorrow. And now I'm just tired.

I've also decided that we'll have to give up Thanksgiving if/when I ever have to get a job outside the home. Not that I really want to, because I'm already making list of things that will have to go and Thanksgiving is the least of them. But my husband seems to think that when Cory gets out of high school that I'll want/need to go back to work. Never mind that I don't know what I would want to do - definitely not rv repair and preferably not retail again, but other than that? And who is going to do what I do now? Still me? With less time?

I know other people do it, somehow. And I used to do it before kids, but I forget how, and back then we lived in a much smaller place. For now I guess we better enjoy this Thanksgiving while we have it, and I better try really hard to get things caught up around here.

Cooking for Thanksgiving

Image by kendiala via Flickr

I've got a lot of cooking to do tomorrow, because Thursday is Thanksgiving, and we're having it here. We're not having a big group, just us and my brother and his daughter, but I've still got to fix turkey and all the rest. It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it all. So tomorrow I'm cooking the turkey, baking rolls and some pies, and maybe making cranberry sauce. I say maybe on the cranberry sauce because the people in my house like the jelled stuff that comes out of a can, but I just really want some real, fresh cranberry sauce.

I always cook the turkey the day before because it's just easier to deal with that way. I can cool the broth, remove all the fat, and have it to make the dressing and gravy. I add some broth to the sliced turkey and reheat it in the oven. No pretty turkey for the table, but so much easier. And seriously, I've never been able to get the turkey out of the pan in one piece.

So if the turkey and the baking is done tomorrow, all I have to do is dressing (I already have the bread laid out to dry a little), mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, and a vegetable on Thursday. Right? I feel like I'm forgetting something, but I have time to figure it out. As it is, it sounds like there's going to be so much food people are going to need appetite suppressants or they're going to eat so much they'll explode. Time to start talking up the benefits of leftovers, I think.

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Camera Critters (#35)

I missed Camera Critters last week because I was in Kentucky for Thanksgiving.  There were other things to do there, like read to little nephews or nieces.  Yep, it was really tough. 

I did manage to take a few pictures of Mom & Dad's new 'baby' Toby while we were there.

He's a little sweetie - not one of those tiny little nervous Chihuahuas with the yippy bark.  No, I wouldn't  want one at my house, but I did enjoy playing with him.  Mom & Dad have a lot of fun with him.

Camera Critters is a fun weekend meme hosted by Misty Dawn.Visit the Camera Critters headquarters and join in.

Sky Watch Friday (#47)

It's (almost) Friday again, and that means
Sky Watch Friday!

I missed last week's Sky Watch because we were in Kentucky visiting family for Thanksgiving.  I took these pictures on the drive down, while stuck in Chicago traffic.

I'm pretty sure I was wishing I could fly right over that traffic and into the sky about then.  No such luck.  We just had to sit there, inching slowly along, wondering if we'd ever get where we wanted to go.

If you enjoy looking at the sky as much as I do, you'll want to check out Sky Watch Friday. You can enjoy skies from around the world!

Thank Our Heroes

I should probably be more appreciative of the fact that I got to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family, in spite of the hassle of getting there and back. Some people don't get to spend holidays with their families, and it's not just because of a little traffic. OK, a lot of traffic and I don't plan to do that again soon, but something tells me that if our military men and women had the chance to sit in traffic so they could be with their families, they'd take it.

Since they can't do that and many of them are away from home, not just for the holidays but for months at a time, Sears has set up the Sears Heroes at Home Wish Registry. It's a great way to thank our heroes and do something slightly heroic ourselves.

Military families can register, tell their stories, and create wishlists for their families. Then the rest of us can read their stories, see what they wish for their families, and help fulfill their wishes. I've read a few of the stories and looked at the wishlists, a family of 6 from Tennessee, a family of 5 from New York. Please visit the Sears site, read some of the stories yourself and consider helping to fulfill some of those holiday wishes. All donations will be used to purchase Sears gift cards, which will be distributed equally to all registered families.

Whether or not you want to make a donation, you can still post a message of support to let our military men and women, and their families, know we are thinking of them and appreciate their service and sacrifice.

Thanksgiving with Family

Image via WikipediaI hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We're spending this weekend with my parents, who moved too far away. Jeffrey got out of work early Wednesday so we could drive down, and it ended up taking way too long. I detest Chicago! Seriously. (Just ignore how pretty the city looks in those pictures there.) Is there any reason why traffic has to come to a complete standstill? There really needs to be a better way to go around that mess.

Anyway, we finally managed to get to Indiana and pick up my brother and his daughter and then headed down to Kentucky. Even that took longer than it should have, because the traffic was crazy. We'd be going along at 70mph, only to have to slam on the brakes because traffic would suddenly slow down to 40 or even come to a complete stop. Not fun at all. And for no reason we could ever see.

Thankfully we managed to make it to Mom & Dad's safely. It was late, but we all got to bed and got to sleep. Thanksgiving was good with all the family here - except for the brother who lives in Oregon, but he did call. We had lots of good food. I don't think anyone is going to need Hydroxycut hardcore, but there was certainly plenty. Practically everything had been raised on the farm here, so that was kind of neat. When they figure the average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner, I doubt they're figuring on the people who raise their own turkeys, sweet potatoes, salad greens, etc. So yummy!

I think we get leftovers for lunch today. I love leftovers.

Also, if you haven't taken the time to Give Thanks and Give a Drop, please do.

Give Thanks and Give a Drop

Image via WikipediaThanksgiving is coming up on Thursday, and it's a good time to stop and reflect on all the blessings we have in our lives. Something that a lot of us take for granted is our access to clean water, but more than a billion people around the world don't have access to clean water.

Project Clean Water is an initiative that targets villages around the world that have water problems and finds sustainable solutions to provide them with safe drinking water. Virgin Money is working to raise money for Project Clean Water during the Thanksgiving season. They will donate $1 to “Give a Drop” for each person who visits the Virgin site and simply posts a picture and caption of someone or something they are thankful for.

I'm sure you have plenty to be thankful for, so please, Give Thanks and Give a Drop.

ETA: You can continue to upload your pictures and let everyone know what you're thankful for. Virgin Money will continue to donate $1 for each one through December 31.

Camera Critters (#33)

Thanksgiving (here in the US) is coming up on Thursday, so I thought it was a good time to post this turkey.  One of the kids, Beth or Cory, I can't remember who had the camera, took this picture the last time we went to Kentucky.  It's been 3 years, so I doubt we'll see this same turkey when we go visit.  I'm hoping there's another turkey on the table, minus the feathers, of course.

Camera Critters is a fun weekend meme hosted by Misty Dawn.Visit the Camera Critters headquarters and join in.

Thanksgiving Divorce

A man in Jacksonville calls his son in San Diego the day before Thanksgiving and says, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.

"Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screams. “We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the father says. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Denver and tell her."

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this,"

She calls Jacksonville immediately, and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "they're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way."

Let Butterball Pay for theTurkey

Image by kpishdadi
via FlickrFor some helpful information on cooking your Thanksgiving turkey as well as the chance to let Butterball pay for it, visit Mom of 3 Girls. Deb is giving away two coupons for up to $15 off a Butterball turkey. You have until Wednesday, November 19th at 11:59 pm EST to enter - so Deb can get the coupons mailed out in time for Thanksgiving.

I personally think turkey isn't just for Thanksgiving, and I usually buy several turkeys when they go on sale for Thanksgiving, so one of these coupons would be really nice.

Heads or Tails - Changing Where You Live

This week's theme/prompt is:

TAILS - How would you change where you live?

We've been discussing going to Kentucky to visit my parents for Thanksgiving. Since Beth works in retail, we didn't think this would be possible, but she's been working on getting that time off.  It's not like Kentucky is in our back yard, so we can't just show up for Thanksgiving dinner and then come home again.  We need the whole weekend - heading down there on Wednesday and coming back Sunday.  It makes for a long, tiring weekend.

So, if I could change something about where I live, I'd somehow make it closer to Kentucky, and Arizona, and Oregon - just plain closer to family all around.  Or else we need some kind of high speed road or tunnel or something that can get us there in a fraction of the time it really takes.  Other than that, I wouldn't really change much about where I live.  I really like it here - even in the winter.

Heads or Tails is a fun weekly meme hosted by Skittles.

Happy Thanksgiving

In honor of Thanksgiving, I'd like to share a few quotes I liked:

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!”

-Amanda Bradley

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”

-Frederick Keonig

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”

-W. T. Purkiser

Quotes from Thinkexist.com

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have never a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I am thankful for all of you.

Now I'm off to get the turkey in the oven, peel the potatoes and make the dressing. We'll eat when the food is ready. We're real scheduled around here.

I Will Get This Right

I love anything with cranberries, and when I saw the recipe for this Cranberry-Orange Almond Pudding, I just had to try it. I made it once, and, as you can see from the pictures, it was a real mess. Still, it tasted wonderful, so I decided to try it again today. This time, I put it in a 1-1/2 quart casserole, so hopefully it won't overflow. Not leaving anything to chance - my oven is messy enough - I placed the baking dish on a rack on a cookie sheet, so I can at least catch the mess. I got it in the oven and started baking, looked at the recipe again, and noticed the word Almond in the recipe title. Guess what? I forgot to sprinkle the almonds on top. I went ahead an pulled it out and added some, but the top is already kind of hard, so I don't think they will work the way they are supposed to. Oh well. This stuff tastes so good that I will definitely be trying it again, and one of these days I will get it right!

For the recipe: See my Tabblo

What to Do When the Family is Home

No school for the rest of the week, so the kids will be home. Jeffrey took tomorrow and Friday off work, too. You know what that means. I can put them to work! I really am going to need them to help me around here some to get things ready for Thanksgiving. I know it doesn't have to be perfect. It's just my brother. Still, I'd like things to be halfway decent around here - floor vacuumed, bathroom cleaned, stuff like that. Also, Jeffrey said something about inviting a guy from work whose wife is out of town. Considering I don't know this guy at all, well, I can't have him seeing a big mess, right?

Jeffrey and Beth are going to traffic court in the morning, and then they might stop by the store on the way back, if there's anything I need. I haven't thought of anything, but Jeffrey thinks he needs sweet gherkins, and we don't have any of those. So he'll probably stop and get those. He thought he needed deviled eggs, too, but he's not getting any!

Thanksgiving Just Has to Have...

I'm baking today - pies for Thanksgiving. I only have one oven, so I needed to get started today, and pies will keep for a couple days. Tomorrow I have to make the rolls. Actually, I probably could have baked pies tomorrow, too, because I can't think of what else needs to go in the oven. I usually cook the turkey the day before Thanksgiving, but I decided to wait and cook it Thursday. I'll let Jeffrey carve it at the table, since he went and opened his mouth and said he wanted it that way. We'll see how that works.

Anyway, the pies. I made a German Chocolate pie for my darling husband. That's what he always wants because that's what his mom made for special occasions. My mom always made cheesecake, so I didn't think his chocolate pie was all that special. That's why my mom has probably made it more often for him than I have - in 21 years of marriage. Yes, Jeffrey is so deprived. But, I made one for him today, and I'm sure he will appreciate it. I've got a pumpkin pie in the oven now, because it's just not Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie.

My question for you is: What is something that you just have to have for Thanksgiving? Something, without which, Thanksgiving would just be incomplete? I would say turkey is a given, but I know some people don't eat turkey, so I'll say besides the turkey. And, if you don't eat turkey, what do you have?