Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving is a time for friends and family to come together to celebrate with great food and good company. Making dinner for a large group can be a great way to demonstrate your cooking talent, but finding a menu that everyone likes can be difficult. The best solution is to find out the dietary restrictions of your guests and offer them various alternatives like a vegetarian or nut-free option. Aside from that, Thanksgiving dinner can include a variety of dishes, so here is an exhaustive list of options to chose from.

Turkey: Brined, basted, roasted, fried. The options for cooking a turkey are endless, but this is the main Thanksgiving dish that should not be missed! The number of guests you will be having will determine how big of a turkey to get. You may even have to get more than one turkey because you want to make sure that you have enough. If you find that you have extra turkey, send some home with your guests, or, make turkey soup! It's the perfect leftover meal to pack in lunches for the following week.

Potatoes: Potatoes are a great side dish because there are so many ways to make them. You can boil peeled potatoes and then mash them up with butter and cream to make silky mashed potatoes. Or, if you only have a few guests, you can make a baked potato for each person. Even throwing them into a high-powered, new microwave will have them cooked in no time. There are several other ways to make potatoes including roasting potatoes with herbs, baking potato slivers to create chips and baking potato wedges with garlic. And don't forget the sweet potatoes! You can make sweet potato chips, sweet potato casserole or simple mashed sweet potatoes mixed with butter and brown sugar. Some delicious toppings for sweet potatoes are pecans, meringue and marshmallows.

Green beans: Every meal should include a vegetable, and even though Thanksgiving dinner isn't always the healthiest, it's nice to add some green color to the spread. So try a great green bean dish! You can make delicious casserole using cream of mushroom soup and fried onions or you can keep it simple and roast green beans in the oven with various different aromatics.

Cranberries: Instead of purchasing pre-made cranberries in a can, try making your own! Cranberry sauce is easy to make and you can add aromatics like cinnamon and orange to spruce up the dish. If you're not into the gelatinous texture of cranberry sauce, try making a cranberry relish that you can store in the refrigerator for up to two days. Chop up fruits like oranges, green apples and pears and toss them together with chopped cranberries and a little brown sugar for a great crunchy relish. With the help of a simple refrigerator, new twists on old classic side dishes are achievable.

Pie: Thanksgiving desserts do not have to be limited to pumpkin pie. Apple, peach, blueberry and pecan are great alternatives. Also, if you want to incorporate pumpkin flavor into the dessert, but don't like the texture of pumpkin pie, try something like a pumpkin spice bar using pumpkin butter and a delicious brown sugar crumble.

Don't forget to enlist the help of your guests when it comes to cleanup. If they're willing to help with dishes, don't pass up on help because dozens of place settings will quickly break in a new dishwasher!

With all of these dish options, your Thanksgiving is sure to be one that your guests will remember.

Love, Laughter and a Stress Free Christmas

Jingle bells, lots of snow, presents round the tree.......

Yes it's that time of year again, Christmas is just around the corner and what does that mean? Yes, you got it stress!

Along with the normal everyday triggers, work, home life, family, friends there is an ever increasing pressure to provide the latest "must haves". With mounting demands from a never ending Santa list, the perfect tree with this year's colour co-ordinated decorations, what's wrong with last year's? They have only been used once! And then there is the big debate about whom to invite for the sit down dinner, the seating plan, table decorations - fresh or fake!?How about this year we cut ourselves a bit of slack?

Christmas should not be about what we want, which is better, or how much was yours! It's about spending time with the people in your life that really matter. It's also about coming together and remembering those that can't be with us. How far will all this craziness go before we start teaching our children the true meaning of Christmas, where instead of being dragged down the conveyor belt of financial debt and failed expectations we create an environment of love, trust and honesty. A place where everyone can feel at ease and quality time is shared by all.

Festive celebrations can be stress free..

· Make a list of those you would like to spend time with. People that make you feel good, smile and laugh. Arrange "meet-ups" with them over the holiday period. Also write a list at the end of each day of things you need to do the next day. By having your list ready when you start each day it will make it easier on you. When you start each day look at your list, and start doing one task immediately. If you are organized, your whole day will go much smoother.

· Make sure you get enough sleep; this will make you feel refreshed, relaxed and ready to go. Take a nice bubble bath, light some scented candles and turn on some soothing music. Let your mind wander and imagine you are walking along the beach in bare feet and just listening to the sounds of the waves, whilst looking at the crystal blue water gently lapping the shore. Let all your problems go for the time being and just relax.

· When you feel yourself becoming stressed or anxious "STOP" and ask yourself "why?" and if it's for the wrong reason move onto the next "to do". If the people at home are getting on your nerves, try to get out of the house and take a long walk in the park, or a drive through a scenic area. Sometimes just removing yourself from a stressful situation can smooth out the edges on your nerves.

· Take some time each day to relax and daydream. Imagine yourself relaxing in your favourite spot, whether it is walking on the beach or sitting on a park bench reading. Taking a few deep slow breaths and hold it in for 10 seconds and then slowly let it out.

· How about spreading the load this year? share the responsibilities for creating a festive treat that everyone can be a part of. Delegate jobs and lighten the load. Preparations can be fun, let others decorate the tree, put icing on cakes or even wrap each other's presents... this can create excitement and a joyous atmosphere, where everyone can play a role in contributing something, no matter how small, into making a long lasting, pleasurable memory, a Merry Christmas.

Stress and anxiety do not have to control your life. You are the master of your own emotions and can control most occurrences of stress. By paying attention to what causes you stress or anxiety, you will know when you need to stop and take another direction. Find your inner peace by taking time to relax and let go. There are a lot of ways that you can make stress disappear and make your life more enjoyable.Whether you like it or not, this day is coming and you can choose to be stressed or you can choose to enjoy this holiday period with lots of fun and laughter.

But before I leave, please take a minute out of your day to remember those that cannot be with us today. Remembered, but never forgotten.

~Merry Christmas to you all

"It's not about how much you spend this Christmas, it's about who you spend this time with that counts".