Happy Thanksgiving!

Tyler and Krystal Stenseng

Set the Table

If you will have a houseful on Thanksgiving Day, you could wow them all with a tablescape that calls them to their seat almost as easily as the feast itself. 

Play up the fruits and veggies of the season and give those pumpkins of yours their last hay day for the year.  Run a staggered line of pumpkins, real or faux, down the middle of the table.  Accent them with anything from mesquite branches to pinecones, acorn squash, gourds, and berries.  Your pumpkins could be painted to spell out “Thanks” or another seasonal message.  And your accents could be scattered about or in glass pillar or square vases. 

If you have a good collection of glass vases and/or apothecary jars in varying heights, sizes, and shapes, fill them with layers as you would a trifle bowl.  Use nuts in their shell like pecans, walnuts, macadamias, pistachios, and Brazil nuts.  Mix in things like dried black, kidney, or pinto beans, dried cranberries, and deer corn.  Accent your collection with fall leaves or small pinecones.  For a different sweet spin with lots of color, fill them with candy corn, M&Ms® in yellow, orange, and white, plus mini candy pumpkins, gumballs in orange, red, and green, and other mainstream candy that offers a fall twist.  If someone sneaks a little treat before or after the meal, even better.

To keep things really simple, involve the kids in a little centerpiece art project by spelling out a phrase like “Give Thanks” or “Thanksgiving” or something of your choosing in individual decorative letters on craft paper or cardstock.  Hang each letter with twine or ribbon run through a hole-punched spot from thin branches you stake in a series of jars or vases down the table’s center.  The glassware could be filled with any of the above mentioned fillers to hold your lightweight branches in place.  Those branches could come from the craft store or simply the mesquite tree in your yard. 

Another creative, modern concept I have seen on television is to cover the entire table with black bulletin board paper in place of a tablecloth, and give your guests chalk to use for a little mealtime fun.  You could pre-write your own messages, including writing a scripted name over each place setting instead of a place card or adding conversation starters like “I am thankful for . . .”  You could mark spots for butter or salt and pepper, or you could write parts of the menu spread around the table.  When you turn them loose with chalk right in line with their silverware or in little mason jars around the table, you could have quite the masterpiece by the end of the meal. 

Gather the family around the table, whether beautiful, whimsical, or unique, and come away with full tummies and big smiles.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star November 24th.

Fun Feasting

A feast awaits you just around the corner.  If the title of host or hostess is one you wear proudly, you may enjoy the concept of adding fun party elements to your traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Listing things you’re thankful for as you sit down around the table is very sweet.  If you want to give your guests more time to ponder their answers, set up Mason jars or a punch bowl with plenty of slips of paper, pens, and a sign with instructions so answers can be written down throughout the day.  When you serve up the pie slices for dessert, take turns drawing a slip out, reading the answer aloud, and trying to guess who the author is.

The Super Bowl may be a few months away, but you could turn part of your Thanksgiving Day at home into a true football fan event.  If being gathered around the big screen sounds more appealing than the floury work around the kitchen island, turn your turkey dinner into a more appetizer based menu to enjoy bite by bite.  Traditional menu items – green bean casserole, sweet potato soufflé, dressing with gravy – can all be made more appetizer-sized when cooked in muffin tins to make individual portions.  Set out your trays with single serve portions, and root for your team, turkey sandwich in tow.

I can’t take credit for this one, but it is certainly worth mentioning.  I’m sure we’ve all seen the commercial this season that shows a fall photo backdrop scene set up beside the dinner table with smiling family members taking silly pictures, paper mustaches on sticks in hand.  With a little creativity (and craft paper), you could set up your own photo backdrop complete with props and have table guests pose again and again.  Your theme could be anything you choose, and the props could be simple and homemade.  If you use a tripod or set your digital camera in one spot, like on a medium height piece of furniture or half wall, your pictures would have a background that doesn’t move between shots, making the end result a flip book style series of funny and memorable photos. 

As the day is winding down, you start to feel the excitement of Christmas coming.  Some families have the tradition of taking down their fall decorations that night and starting in on their Christmas décor.  You could finish out the night with some hot chocolate or apple cider as you marvel at your freshly strung twinkly lights.  Or you could take the more laidback road and all snuggle up on the coach with your favorite Christmas movie and some caramel popcorn to kick off the next phase of the holiday season.        

Any little something extra you stir into the mix this Thanksgiving Day, you’ll be sure to have them all just gobble-gobble it up.  

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star November 17th.

You Can't Go Wrong With . . .

Some of you early birds are scratching gift purchases off your Christmas list left and right, and some will wait a little closer to the 25^th of December.  But we all find ourselves in the same boat at one point or another: what to get for the special people in our lives.  Everyone has different tastes, and our knowledge of our gift recipients’ likes varies.  It’s nice to have a go-to list of things that can express our joy of sharing during the holiday season without feeling like the gift you give will go unused.  Here is one such classic list, just short, simple, and sweet:

White Dishes – Timeless, easy, and beautiful on any table, white dishes are a staple for the dining table.  Whether they are for your mom, aunt, or the hostess in your circle of friends, white dishes are pretty fool-proof in the gift giving department.  Dinner plates, salad plates, cereal bowls, small appetizer plates, and serving platters and bowls can be used for any number of occasions right along with everyday meals.  Wrap them up, and watch her mouth water when it’s present opening time.

Framed Mirrors – Picking out wall art for someone else may lead you to a hit or a miss.  Go with that concept without the specifics of selecting a design.  Choose a medium size or a few smaller framed mirrors to gift instead.  Stick to a classic frame in a metallic, wood, or neutral painted finish.  Let your recipients reflect their own décor style back at them in the shiny surfaces.

Serving Trays – Clear acrylic or melamine rectangles, as well as stainless steel rounds, make great materials for a pretty serving tray.  They may accent someone’s bar area for glasses, foyer table for mail, coffee table for magazines, or holiday buffet for appetizers, and they are impartial enough to mix with any number of personal styles. 

Glass – Your sister may love a new vase for her centerpiece, the socialite in your group may appreciate a set of champagne flutes, or grandma may enjoy an aromatic candle in a glass cylinder.  Glass is another timeless material that comes in a countless array of forms and makes a gift you can tailor multiple ways to personalize for any nametag under your tree.

Gift Cards – Impersonal?  I say no.  You’re giving the gift of selection, and that can be made incredibly personal by the card you choose.  Give a gift card to a store we don’t have locally to give someone something special with more variety and an opportunity to shop online or while on a trip.  Or give a credit card gift card, essentially a pre-paid debit card, that could be used at any store that accepts that kind of plastic.  You can tailor your choice – a book store card to the reader, a kitchen store card to the cook, a coffee gift card to the latte sipper – or you can offer up a general opportunity to shop-and-swipe.

Put a little thought into how you can turn gifts that could fit just about anyone into presents that both excite when they’re opened and get put to great use because they’re loved.  Aren’t you a smart Santa?        

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star November 10th.

  

Fall-Ready Weekday Lunches

Whether you’re weeks into the school year and getting repetitive with lunchbox content, brown bagging the same old meals to work, or wanting to shake up your plate at home, look into simply doable recipes online for these fall-ready weekday lunches.

Capitalize on seasonal produce at your local grocery store to set this season’s midday meals apart.  Veggies like eggplant, butternut squash, asparagus, zucchini, and sweet potatoes make great side dishes and soups.  Both eggplant and sweet potatoes can be sliced into French fry strips, dipped in flour then egg then grated parmesan cheese, and baked in the oven on a rack on a half sheet pan until crispy.  Mix mayo with roasted garlic for a delicious dipping sauce, and you have a healthier alternative to the typical fries.  Roast any of these vegetables with some onion until brown and softened, blend them with seasonings, a little olive oil, plain yogurt, and chicken stock until smooth, and heat through for a rich and filling soup.    

A sandwich is a sandwich . . . unless you make it more!  Trade in typical bread slices for ciabatta rolls instead.  Spread some of that garlic mayo or pesto sauce in lieu of the usual condiments.  Switch roasted turkey breast for ham.  Dress up your cheese choice with some Asiago or Romano in place of sandwich ready slices.  For a wrap with substance, use a wheat or spinach tortilla, and fill it with the browned meat of your choice or layers of roasted veggies.  Pile on some shredded coleslaw mixed in oil and vinegar, and top it off with sliced grape tomatoes, cilantro, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.       

For a tangy salad at home, mix olive oil and lemon juice in a mixing bowl with salt and pepper and thinly sliced purple onion.  Dice avocado and add in, topped with a pile of torn pieces of your favorite lettuce or greens.  (I love butter lettuce!)  Toss it all together to fully coat, and enjoy with some brown rice crackers. 

To take your typical tomato sauce up a seasonal notch, add roasted vegetables like squash and zucchini into the saucepan with your canned sauce and blend with an immersion blender until smooth, or put it all into a blender or Cuisinart to smooth before heating in a saucepan.  Dollop the hearty sauce onto spaghetti or penne, making each an easy to-go main dish.  To switch up your pasta, try “veggie pasta,” which really does taste good, or even bake a spaghetti squash and use the stringy insides in place of noodles.

Branch out and try new things.  Be willing to pick up new produce and explore new recipes to find fresh ways to satisfy your taste buds at lunchtime.     

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star November 3rd.