As you know, I’ve been talking a lot about cooking for the holidays.  We tend to take our feasting seriously as we celebrate our traditional holiday seasons.  Cooking up a storm can take a toll on the chef of the house.  There is a great deal of planning and preparation which often leaves us too weary to give ourselves a much needed break.  That’s too bad because we need to enjoy the holidays as much as the people we are feeding.

How about cooking up a little something for yourself this week?  As you go through your recipes for your holiday meals, why not sneak a recipe or two in for some personal indulgences?  I’ve got a few favorites that I’d like to share right here:

Milk Lotion

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup dried chamomile (can use pure chamomile tea)
• 4 Tablespoons honey
• 6 to 8 teaspoons wheat germ

Pour milk into double boiler over low heat.  Add chamomile, cover, and allow to simmer slowly over low heat for 2 hours.  Pour through a strainer to remove any remaining dried chamomile.  Add wheat germ and honey to liquid, and mix well.  Use as a soothing, moisturizing, lotion over dry skin. Lotion stays fresh in the refrigerator for one week.  It feels good when it’s cool, too.

Oatmeal Body Scrub

• 2 Tablespoons rolled oats
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons aloe vera  (substitute honey if you can’t get aloe vera)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Put rolled oats in blender and blend into a very fine powder. Place oats in small mixing bowl. Add brown sugar and lemon juice.  Mix well.  Once mixed, add aloe vera and stir into a paste being sure there are no lumps. Dampen the skin you will be applying paste to and massage paste onto skin. Rinse with warm water.  Feels especially good on dry legs, knees, and elbows.  This scrub does not keep well so only make what you’ll be using. Double the recipe to use over more of your body.

There are many little potions and lotions that you can create in your own kitchen.  Click here to find even more delightful luxuries.  Then, take a little time out of your cooking and whip up a batch of pampering potions just for you!  Enjoy your day!

Nutritious and delicious meals are important to everyone when feeding a hungry family.  However, food is more than nutrition for many people.  If you’re like me, cooking a beautiful meal is one of the ways that I show love.  Cooking makes me feel good.

Our holiday meals feature a traditional stuffed turkey as the centerpiece of the meal.  Then we surround the bird all the fancy fixings.  I’ve shared some thoughts last week about how to choose your holiday turkey – if you’d like to read it just click here.  Then come on back and I’ll tell you what that post got me thinking about.

As I was writing about choosing a turkey, I thought back on several holiday meals at which we had guests who were vegetarian seated at our table.  These guests were wonderfully polite and dug into all the vegetable dishes we had available, and there was quite an array.  But, here’s my thought – why should our vegetarian guests be limited to eating our standard side dishes?  Why can’t we create dishes that are more appealing, make more of a statement than a plate of, for instance, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes?

This year I am dedicating myself to making ALL my guests feel as special as I feel having them around my table.  I’m working on some “bountiful” dishes that will qualify as fancy vegetarian main dishes for our holiday meals.  I’ll share what I have so far with you so you can start developing a plan for your own vegetarian dishes.

Lentils & Pumpkin Curry with Apples

• 1 cup lentils
• 6 cups water

• 1 Tbsp. Canola oil
• 1 large sweet onion, diced

Cook lentils in water gently over medium-low heat for 45 minutes.  Drain and reserve the cooking liquid.

Heat oil in large sauce pan, add onion and cook over medium-low heat until onion starts to get transparent.

Add the following ingredients to large saucepan with onion:

• 1 small can diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoon curry powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• pinch of ground cloves
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper

Now, stir in the drained lentils and add 2 1/2 cups of the reserved liquid.

Add the following list of ingredients and continue to cook over low heat until vegetables are just fork tender, not mushy.  This should take around 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how low you let this simmer:

• 2 cups of diced pumpkin (make sure it’s the cooking kind and not the jack o’lantern kind) or other winter squash that you like will be good too.
• 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes or may like to use red potatoes.  Just scrub the potatoes, do not peel, and coarse dice.
• 1 small head of cauliflower, just the florets only cut into bite size pieces.
• 1 or 2 carrots, peeled and diced.

Now stir in the following ingredients and let cook for an additional 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.  Be sure you don’t let this cook too long.  You want the greens to be just wilted and the apples to be just fork tender, and not turn into applesauce.

• 2 tart crisp apples that are a good size.  Wash but do not peel.  Just core and coarse dice.
• 2 cups fresh chopped greens (kale, spinach, or what have you).  I like kale because it stands up better than spinach does.

Serve in a pretty serving dish on a bed of brown and wild rice.

Here’s how you can make this dish even prettier.  Serve it in a baked pumpkin or other winter squash “bowl.”  Bake a pumpkin by cutting off the top to form a “lid” and scooping out the seeds and stringy stuff.  Set the pumpkin in a baking pan and put a little bit of water in the pan.  Place a sheet of foil over the opening in the pumpkin and place the “lid” on the top of the foil.  You may want to wrap the “handle” with a little foil to keep it from burning up.  Bake your pumpkin in a 375 degree oven for about an hour, but check it at 45 minutes by sticking a fork inside to see if the flesh is soft. Keep the pumpkin bowl warm until your dish is completed.

Here’s another spin on a traditional dish, especially for Thanksgiving.

First Thanksgiving Succotash In Butternut Squash Boats

Wash and cut lengthwise 2 medium butternut squash.  Scoop out the insides and bake cut side down on a baking pan with a drizzle of canola oil covering the bottom of the pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes or until fork tender.  Remove and let cool.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and saute these ingredients until the onion just starts to get transparent:

• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced small
• 1 green bell pepper, diced small
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

Now, add to the large saucepan the following ingredients, and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally:

• 2 cups frozen baby lima beans
• 2 cups frozen corn.
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pinch of nutmeg

When the baked squash has cooled down, carefully scoop out some of the flesh from the skins, being sure to leave the shells intact for filling.  If that means you have to leave some flesh in the shells, that’s okay.  Chop the flesh that you’ve removed and add to the saucepan.  Mix together, then scoop the mixture back into the baked butternut squash shells.  Top with a sprinkle of breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese.

Place the stuffed squash underneath the broiler (about 6 inches) away and allow to brown, about 4 or 5 minutes should do it.

These dishes are pretty and festive, yes, but more importantly they are main dishes, not sides.  These dishes are not an afterthought; they honor your vegetarian guests just like your vegetarian guests honor you by accepting your invitation to share a special holiday meal.

Choosing harvest vegetables, beans, lentils, and colorful brown and wild rice, will give you plenty of opportunities to create dishes that will not only please your guests, but will make you feel good about feeding them!

That is why I chose this topic for Fuzzy Wuzzy Wednesday, because the holidays are all about making our family and friends, and ourselves, feel good inside!  I hope you have a great day today and a warm and wonderful holiday season.

Does it make you happy when you shop at thrift stores and find really great bargains?  Do you especially feel good when money spent on those bargains help provide services for people in need?

Charity and non-profit organizations like Goodwill Industries do just that.  When you shop at a Goodwill store, your money goes directly into programs like job training and job placement for folks who need help finding work due to disabilities or other barriers to employment.

I’m sure you’ll agree that this is a vital service, one which benefits everyone in a way.  Working folks are happier, healthier, and feel a sense of purpose and connection with their neighbors.  Our communities thrive when the population is productively employed.

This all sounds great, but what if you don’t have a Goodwill thrift store in your town?  How can you shop and contribute?

Here’s how… Goodwill Industries has their very own auction-type website.  It’s called ShopGoodwill.com and is operated by Goodwill of Orange County, California.  Participating Goodwill stores from all over offer a wide variety of items for auction; items from antiques to housewares to clothing.  New and nearly new items are pulled from their inventories of donated goods and placed on the auction site to sell.  Because Goodwill is so large, the resources for these items is enormous.

This is not a small charity or a small auction site.  Goodwill’s presence extends to five continents, and in 2005 alone, Goodwill Industries International and its affiliates served over 846,000 individuals.

Just like shopping at a Goodwill store, the money you spend at ShopGoodwill.com supports programs designed to help people with disabilities and other barriers to employment who are otherwise left out of society – programs like education, training and job placement.

How does the ShopGoodwill.com auction website work?  Similar to eBay, but your money is going to charity.

Start by scrolling around the items you are most interested in just to whet your appetite.  I guarantee you’ll see something that appeals to you.  For me, it was the wonderful cast iron Dutch ovens, griddles, and skillets.  There were even a few enameled cast iron casserole dishes.  Once I was sufficiently impressed, I just clicked on the “Sign-in” button, clicked on “I’m a New User”, and followed the simple instructions to register.

Of course, you’ll see some expensive antiques, art work, and jewelry, but you’ll also find things like a $10 Sunbeam Mixmaster, a $9 Pampered Chef baking dish, and even a vintage wedding gown for under $20!

The shipping should be factored in as you know, but seems to be what you would expect to pay.  But, it may be worth the cost to ship if you find something that you haven’t been able to find locally; maybe a missing piece from a set of dishes that you would like to complete.

Take a break from your busy day, click on ShopGoodwill.com, and start with a little window shopping.  When you see something that interests you, go ahead and register.  It will only take a minute or two and you’ll feel good the rest of the day, knowing the purchases you make are doing more than supporting a business… your purchases are supporting a community.

p.s. If you’ve gotten the urge to visit your local thrift shops now, before you start click here to read a few tips about when to shop and what to look for when you go.